Script

Introduction:

M:​ Its 1786, you are a farmer living in Massachusetts and have a great life set in front of you.
You have a farm with lots of land and are finally getting some money. You are so happy to know
that the Revolutionary War is behind you and you get to start a whole new life. But, suddenly it
all changes. To pay off war debt, Massachussetts starts unfairly increasing your taxes. Your taxes
are so high you know you won’t be able to pay them and even if you tried, you’d go bankrupt
and lose everything!
This is just the beginning of the domestic resistance movements.
D:​ Hi I’m Danielle Sipes
M:​ and I’m Madeleine Rose
Both:​ and you’re about to become a history expert!

D:​ Let’s begin with learning about what a domestic resistance movement is?
M:​ Well, if we break apart the phrase, the word domestic has to do within the U.S.
D:​ Resistance as many of you know is the refusal to accept something.
M:​ And a movement is something that goes down in the history books.
D:​ So domestic resistance movements has to do with Americans rebelling against a corrupt
government or laws.

D:​ In 1786, the government was in great debt after the Revolutionary War. To solve this
problem, the government increased taxes. Many people couldn’t afford this, and so they would
have their properties taken away, be sent to jail, and go bankrupt if they even tried to pay their
taxes.

Shays Rebellion:

M:​ War debt, which is what caused people to be unfairly taxed, left Americans REALLY in need
to rebell against the government. This was before the Constitution was created and the Articles
of Confederation still served as the form of American government. And so the Shays Rebellion
began. Many people, but more so farmers, were in great debt due to added taxes. One poor
farmer was fed up with the crazy taxing. His name was Daniel Shay and he lead hundreds of men
to shutdown the Supreme Court in Springfield, Massachusetts. After protesting and putting up a
great fight, Shays rebels were defeated and many were imprisoned. This showed just how weak
the Articles of Confederation were. The Founding Fathers needed to create a government that
would distribute its powers equally among all the states and individuals. Americans also realized
that that they needed a stronger government that could protect the nation in times of crisis.

D:​ But this wasn’t the end. 5 years later, in 1791 George Washington had become president.
Another law was passed by the government saying that American made whiskey and other
distilled spirits would be taxed extra. Farmers in western Pennsylvania had lashed out against the
tax and these actions turned into what is known as the Whiskey Rebellion. This alcohol tax was
the first ​tax ever to be placed on a product created within America. Hence, why it is called
domestic taxing.This law was ratified in 1791. The point of the law bring in more income for the
government as they were currently in debt due to the war. The tax applied to all distilled spirits,
but ​American whiskey​ was by far the country's most popular distilled beverage in the 18th
century, which is why so many people rebelled against this law.

M:​ As wild as it seems farmer actually grew and distilled their surplus of ​rye​, ​barley​, ​wheat​,
corn​, or fermented grain mixtures into whiskey. This is how whiskey is made. By taxing farmers
whiskey this took away from the farmer's profit leaving them with little to no money. George
Washington feared that the rebels threatened the federal government’s authority. He personally
led a militia against the rebellion in November of 1794, but by that time most of the rebels had
fled. Which is why The Whiskey Rebellion ended without a battle.

Conclusion:

D:​ The domestic resistance movements were a “heads up” to show just how weak the federal
government was at the time. It was a reminder to Founding Fathers that there needed to be a
change in government in order to ensure that no one group of people would have too much
power. The result of the movements were influential to making an impact on how the
government would fairly tax its people in order to maintain a balance between the taxes and
people’s economic standings.