Social Science Models

Washington's Presidency: Materials

Born into a respected, but hard working farming family in Western Pennsylvania, John Baker grew up in a frontier environment where work was plentiful and wealth was scarce. Without a formal education, Baker learned the fundamentals like reading and writing from the elders of his family and local community. He heard stories of the unfair treatment the colonists experienced under British rule. The local farmers had joined other colonists in the American Revolution. He was grateful that the British whom his father had helped defeat were no longer governing their lives.

1. How might Baker's background influence his feelings toward a strong centralized government?

2. How was his background similar to and different from that of Thomas Jefferson?

As an adult, Baker followed in his father's footsteps. After marrying the daughter of a close family friend, he struggled to purchase land at an inflated price from a speculator from New York. It galled Baker that outsiders had been allowed to purchase land from the government that had been settled long ago by local farmers. Where were these speculators when the settlers had hacked homes out of wilderness and defended their land from savages? 

This was just one of many events that caused Baker to worry. Although he trusted President Washington, he was suspicious of his Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Baker and his neighbors were skeptical about the financial plan that Hamilton claimed would stabilize the young country's economy. The plan would have the federal government play an increased role in the economy. It called for a national excise tax on whiskey to help pay off the debts incurred during the Revolution. This would burden struggling whiskey farmers like Baker much more than the wealthy merchants of the East coast. Indeed, all of Hamilton's policies seemed to favor the Eastern businessmen over the farmers. Baker and his neighbors were bitter about the losses they had taken on the war bonds they had purchased to support the Revolution. Easterners had gained advance notice that the government was going to buy the bonds back at face value. They purchased them cheaply from poor farmers who had lost hope that they would ever see any money from the bonds. Baker and his neighbors had begun to hold meetings about their problems. 

1. What experiences caused John Baker to be suspicious of the new government?

2. How might these experiences Baker influence his feelings toward Hamilton's financial plan?

3. What national leaders might sympathize with the farmers' problems? Why?

 As Baker and other farmers began meeting, their primary concern was the impact of the excise tax. Larger distillers who were located in major trading centers got fifty cents a gallon for their whiskey and were paid in cash. However, Baker, and others closer to the frontier lines could get only half as much for whiskey sold locally, and they were often paid in bartered goods rather than cash. The tax would take a much greater percentage from the farmers' income than the percentage taken from eastern distillers. And with much of their payment in goods, how would they raise the cash to pay the tax? At a meeting of farmers, Baker stated, "If we do not demand that this government recognize our rights as citizens, they will eventually strip them from us. This tax is not unlike those that the British forced upon our fathers. If we do not act immediately we will be fighting another bloody battle for freedom just as our republican brothers in France are doing now." Baker saw all too clearly the similarities of his community's situation and that of the French revolutionaries. As in France, it seemed that those who had the least were expected to support the lifestyles of the wealthy.

1. How are the situations of John Baker and the French revolutionaries similar and different?

2. What lessons might John Baker learn from the people of France?

Mr. Baker and his friends were not opposed to fair, reasonable taxation to meet their responsibilities as citizens. The farmers drew up a petition to send to President Washington that called for individual states to take responsibility for repaying their own war debts as Pennsylvania and other agrarian states had already done. In addition, the petition called for a property tax to replace the tax on whiskey. This would require the wealthy merchants and speculators in the northeast to pay more because their land holdings were worth more than the small plots owned by the western farmers. The farmers hoped this would force the speculators to sell the western land they owned at a more reasonable price so that the men who worked the land would finally own it. At the end of the petition, an anonymous farmer added, "What was it caused the Revolution, if it was not this?"   Baker, as a leader in the community, saw to it that one copy of this petition was sent to their representatives and one went to the President.  A copy was also sent to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson whom the farmers viewed as their ally on the President's cabinet. They hoped to persuade President Washington that they were not calling for revolution, but for justice.

1. Why might the president view the farmers' request as reasonable?

2. What would Baker think of the more forceful measures taken to prevent collection of the excise tax?