Social Science Models

Washington's Presidency: Materials

Before the citizens of Western Pennsylvania turned to vigilante tactics to express their discontent with the excise tax and federal agents, they attempted nonviolent protest. Just as the colonists had organized and held meetings to defend their position, the frontiersmen of Western Pennsylvania did the same. Local assemblies passed resolutions that protested unfair taxes and asked Washington to seek more equitable means for raising money. Citizens who accepted and supported the excise
tax were seen as similar to the Tories who supported British policies during the Revolutionary period and were treated in a similar manner. A resolution passed in one Pennsylvania county proclaimed, ". . . in future we will consider such persons [tax collectors] as unworthy of our friendship; have no . . . dealing with them; withdraw from them every assistance...and upon all occasions treat them with that contempt they deserve" (Baldwin, 86).