The
Whiskey Rebellion by William Hodgeland, 2006, Excerpts
In 1789, the
Constitution of the United States had been ratified. The first U.S. Congress
was settling into its temporary home in New York City and confirmed Alexander
Hamilton’s appointment to the executive branch. Alexander Hamilton, working up
his finance plan, had exciting new powers to work with.
The U.S.
Constitution, Article One, section eight, clause one, gave the federal
government a right to collect every kind of tax from the whole people of the
United States. Congress created and deployed a cadre of federal officers to
collect the impost, and the officers’ power, which included search and seizure,
were unhampered by state lines or state laws. The nation was being unified by
tax officers.
Sections fifteen and
sixteen empowered the federal government to call out the state militias to
enforce federal laws, to organize and control those militias when so engaged,
and to prescribe militias’ training at all times.
Section ten, clause
one, prohibited states from printing paper money, issuing bonds, and making
anything but gold and silver a legal tender for paying public or private debts.
District judges were
no longer elected in the counties they served but were appointed by the
executive in the capital.
The power that the
people had been given in 1776 was taken away.
No comments:
Post a Comment