Fries's Rebellion

Fries' Rebellion
	Historical marker is in front of this modern motel in Quakertown, a central point of Fries's Rebellion
Date	1799–1800
Location	Pennsylvania, United States
Outcome	Rebellion suppressed
Pennsylvania Historical Marker
Designated	2003[1]

The Fries Rebellion (/friːz/), also called Fries' Rebellion, the House Tax Rebellion, the Home Tax Rebellion and, in Deitsch, the Heesses-Wasser Uffschtand, was an armed tax revolt among Pennsylvania Dutch farmers between 1799 and 1800. It was the third of three tax-related rebellions in the 18th century United States, the earlier two being Shays' Rebellion (central and western Massachusetts, 1786–87) and the Whiskey Rebellion (western Pennsylvania, 1794). It was commemorated in 2003 with a Pennsylvania historical marker erected in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, where it first erupted.[1]

Background

When the Quasi-War with France threatened to escalate in 1798, Congress raised a large army and enlarged the navy. To pay for it, Congress in July 1798 imposed $2 million in new taxes on real estate and slaves, apportioned among the states according to the requirements of the Constitution. It was the first (and only) such federal tax.

Congress had also recently passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, criminalizing dissent and increasing the power of the executive branch under John Adams.

Beginning

In July 1798, during the troubles between the United States and France now known as the Quasi-War, the US Congress levied a direct tax (on dwelling-houses, lands and slaves; sometimes called the Direct House Tax of 1798) of $2 million, of which Pennsylvania was called upon to contribute $237,000.

There were very few slaves in Pennsylvania, and the tax was accordingly assessed upon dwelling-houses and land, the value of the houses being determined by the number and size of the windows. The inquisitorial nature of the proceedings, with assessors riding around and counting windows, aroused strong opposition, and many refused to pay, making the constitutional argument that this tax was not being levied in proportion to population.

Pennsylvania auctioneer John Fries organized meetings, starting in February 1799, to discuss a collective response to the tax. As an itinerant auctioneer, Fries was well acquainted with the German-Americans issues in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania. Many advocated resistance in response to the tax. In Milford township, particularly, assessors were unsuccessful in completing their tax assessments due to intimidation. At a meeting called by government representatives in an attempt to explain the tax in a way as to defuse tensions, protesters waving liberty flags, some armed and in Continental Army uniforms, shouted them down and turned the meeting into a protest rally.

The assessors at first determined to continue their work in Milford. Fries personally warned the assessors to quit their work, but they ignored the threat. He then led a small armed band that harassed the assessors enough that they decided to abandon Milford for the time being.

In early March, a local militia company and a growing force of armed irregulars met, marching to the accompaniment of drum and fife. About a hundred set off for Quakertown in pursuit of the assessors, whom they intended to place under arrest.[2] They captured a number of assessors there, releasing them with a warning not to return and to tell the government what had happened to them.[3]

Spread

Opposition to the tax spread to other parts of Pennsylvania. In Penn, the appointed assessor resigned under public threats; the assessors in Hamilton and Northampton also begged to resign, but were refused as nobody else could be found to take their places.[4]

Federal warrants were issued, and the U.S. Marshal began arresting people for tax resistance in Northampton. Arrests were made without much incident until the marshal reached Macungie, then known as Millerstown,[5] where a crowd formed to protect a man from arrest. Failing to make that arrest, the marshal made a few others and returned to Bethlehem with his prisoners.

Two separate groups of rebels independently vowed to liberate the prisoners, and marched on Bethlehem.[6][7] They prevailed without violence, and freed the tax resisters who had been arrested. In response to this action, President John Adams called out a force of federal troops and local militia. They marched into the rebellious counties and began making wholesale arrests of the insurgents. John Fries was among the men captured.

Trials

Thirty men went on trial in Federal court. Fries and two others were tried for treason and, with Federalists stirring up a frenzy, were sentenced to be hanged. President John Adams pardoned Fries and others convicted of treason. Adams was prompted by the narrower constitutional definition of treason, and he later added that the rebels were "as ignorant of our language as they were of our laws" and were being used by "great men" in the opposition party. He issued a general amnesty for everyone involved on May 21, 1800.[8]

Historians are agreed that the Federalists overreacted and mishandled a small episode.[9][10] The long-term impact was that the German-American communities rejected the Federalist Party.

gollark: Not my scheme thing, potatofactor™.

gollark: I may need to use ""epsilon"" technology.

gollark: Hmm, this is running into floating point accuracy issues.

gollark: Wondrous. I'll work on this soon™ after potatofactor™ works.

gollark: Redacting what?

Notes

"PHMC Historical Markers Search" (Searchable database). Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
Davis, chapter 2
Davis, chapter 3
Davis, chapter 4
"The Fries Rebellion of 1798-99". 2011. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
Davis, chapter 5
Gross, David M. (2014). 99 Tactics of Successful Tax Resistance Campaigns. Picket Line Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-1490572741.
Adams had called out the militia, then went home to Massachusetts and left all operations to others.
Paul Douglas Newman (10 March 2005). Fries's Rebellion: the enduring struggle for the American Revolution. U. of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 164–78. ISBN 978-0-8122-1920-3.
Robert A. Hendrickson (1985). The rise and fall of Alexander Hamilton. Dodd, Mead. p. 515. ISBN 978-0-396-08746-5.

References

Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Fries, John" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[PAHMDB-1] "PHMC Historical Markers Search" (Searchable database). Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2014-01-25.

[2] Davis, chapter 2

[3] Davis, chapter 3

[4] Davis, chapter 4

[5] "The Fries Rebellion of 1798-99". 2011. Retrieved August 23, 2012.

[6] Davis, chapter 5

[7] Gross, David M. (2014). 99 Tactics of Successful Tax Resistance Campaigns. Picket Line Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-1490572741.

[8] Adams had called out the militia, then went home to Massachusetts and left all operations to others.

[9] Paul Douglas Newman (10 March 2005). Fries's Rebellion: the enduring struggle for the American Revolution. U. of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 164–78. ISBN 978-0-8122-1920-3.

[10] Robert A. Hendrickson (1985). The rise and fall of Alexander Hamilton. Dodd, Mead. p. 515. ISBN 978-0-396-08746-5.

Armed conflicts involving the United States Armed Forces
listed chronologically
Domestic	Shays' Rebellion Whiskey Rebellion Fries's Rebellion Turner's Rebellion Mormon War Dorr Rebellion Bleeding Kansas Utah War Civil War Indian Wars Brooks–Baxter War Range War Lincoln County War Johnson County War Coal Creek War Homestead strike Battle of Blair Mountain Tulsa Riot Bonus Army Puerto Rican revolts 1960s civil unrest Kent State shooting Los Angeles riots
Foreign	Revolutionary War Quasi-War First Barbary War War of 1812 Second Barbary War First Sumatran expedition Second Sumatran expedition Ivory Coast expedition Mexican–American War First Fiji expedition Second Opium War Second Fiji expedition Formosa Expedition Korean Expedition Spanish–American War Philippine–American War Boxer Rebellion Banana Wars Border War World War I Russian Civil War World War II Korean War Bay of Pigs invasion Vietnam War Invasion of the Dominican Republic Invasion of Grenada Lebanese Civil War Tanker War Invasion of Panama 1986 bombing of Libya Gulf War 1993 missile strikes on Iraq Somali Civil War 1996 missile strikes on Iraq 1998 bombing of Iraq Bosnian War Kosovo War Afghanistan War Iraq War War in North-West Pakistan Libyan Civil War Intervention against ISIL Iraq Syria Cameroon Libya Yemeni Civil War
Related articles	List of conflicts in the U.S. List of wars involving the U.S. Timeline of U.S. military operations Length of U.S. participation in major wars Overseas expansion Military history Covert regime-change actions Casualties of war Peace movement List of anti-war organizations Conscientious objector War on Terror