John Whitehead's Commentary

In a government like ours, it cannot but have a good effect for the person who is understood to be the adviser or proposer of a measure which involves danger to his fellow citizens, to partake of that danger.
--Alexander Hamilton, September 1794

It must have been a strange feeling to be setting out again to command an army. For one thing, he was older, his bones ached and he couldn't stay on horseback too long. He was also worried about leaving his wife because of an outbreak of yellow fever. And maybe even more important, George Washington was now President of the United States.

Following the Revolutionary War, the federal government had agreed to assume the war debt of the states in exchange for moving the nation's capital from Philadelphia to a swampy, mosquito-ridden area on the Potomac that is now known as Washington, D.C.

In order to help pay these war debts, the Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, placed a 25% excise tax on all liquor sold in the United States. However, an insurrection was brewing over the whiskey tax, which was vehemently opposed by farmers in the western areas of all states south of New York who relied on producing whiskey for their livelihoods.

By 1794, the Whiskey Rebellion had broken out into the open. Tax collectors who were sent to western Pennsylvania were routinely threatened, tarred and feathered, making it impossible to collect the whiskey tax from that area. In June of that year, local officials ordered the arrest of the leaders of the whiskey tax resistors. However, all this did was incite the farmers to more violence. A month later, the commander of the local militia, James McFarlane, was shot and killed by federal troops defending a besieged tax official named John Neville. This enraged the local anti-tax settlers who went on to burn down the buildings belonging to Neville as he was hustled to safety by the federal troops.

In reaction to this, President George Washington recruited a militia force in August of 1794 from Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia. This force was derisively nicknamed the Watermelon Army by the western Pennsylvania whiskey tax rebels.

When negotiations between federal commissioners and the rebels failed, Washington put on his Revolutionary War uniform again and, accompanied by Col. Hamilton, personally led the army of over 12,000 troops into western Pennsylvania. This force easily put down the Whiskey Rebellion because the farmers, faced with such a large force and notable commander, quickly dispersed.

What compelled a man like Washington to put himself in harm's way when, in fact, it clearly was not necessary? Some call it greatness, others courage. But such actions involve more, and it is called moral resolve. As Hamilton said, those who propose measures which involve danger to their fellow citizens should "partake of that danger."

Those who seek public office, and others who actively support the various continuing American wars, would do well to seek such moral resolve. But unlike Washington, Hamilton and other great men who responded when their fellow citizens were in danger, few have dared to partake of that danger.

The United States is embroiled on a continuous basis in numerous armed conflicts. Perhaps it is time for our able-bodied politicians to serve in some capacity in support of our troops that are still meeting with death in faraway places such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Surely, they can do more than show up to eat Thanksgiving dinner with the troops.

This also applies to those who vocally support the war effort and sending our young men and women overseas to face death--more than 1,000 have already lost their lives in Iraq. This applies to all able-bodied American citizens--no matter their age. In fact, of the 160,000 men and women deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, 4,119 are 50 or older. Many of these courageous Americans have placed themselves in harm's way at great sacrifice--leaving families and careers behind. Clearly, if those who support such wars would suit up and fight, then there would be no need to deplete our National Guard units.

Of course, the question is this: Do our politicians and fellow citizens have the necessary moral resolve to act, even in a small way, as George Washington and Alexander Hamilton did?

ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.

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