The U.S. tax on distilled spirits that helped trigger the Whiskey Rebellion in 1791 was the Whiskey tax.
The First Congress enacted the excise in 1791 at the urging of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. The new federal government needed revenue, especially to support national finances and the assumption of state Revolutionary War debts. The tax applied to distilled spirits, including whiskey, and frontier farmers considered it unfair because they often converted grain into a more transportable product.
Resistance became particularly strong in western Pennsylvania. Protestors intimidated tax collectors, disrupted court proceedings, and attacked property. President George Washington eventually led a large militia force toward the region in 1794, though the rebellion collapsed before a major battle.
The Whiskey Rebellion was an early test of federal authority under the Constitution. It demonstrated that the new government could enforce federal law, while also revealing the political difficulty of collecting internal taxes in rural communities.