Lot 500: Alexander Hamilton ALS, Whiskey Rebellion

Alexander Hamilton ALS authorizing Colonel David Henley “to make  advances on account of the pay due to the Troops of the United States in the Territory South West of the Ohio” up to $3,000. Dated September 18, 1794. The 10 in x 8 in double sheet letter is mounted at the top of the second page to a 19 in x 10 1/2 in green mat, with a printed image of a bust of Hamilton pasted above it. Includes later typewritten transcription. Note: Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton proposed an excise tax on distilled spirits which became law in 1791. It outraged frontier farmers who depended on whiskey as a commodity and even a form of currency. They protested in a series of armed confrontations which intensified, culminating in July, 1794 when an armed militia attacked tax collector John Neville’s home in Pennsylvania. Determined to set a precedent for the federal government’s authority, President George Washington gathered and led an army of 12,000 militiamen to quell “the Whiskey Rebellion.”  The leaders of the rebels ultimately fled and there was no confrontation, but the event served to prove that the new federal government had the will and the power to suppress violent resistance. The whiskey tax, however, remained difficult to collect, and it was ultimately repealed under President Jefferson. (Source: hamilton.gilderlehrman.org ). 

PROVENANCE: By descent from the estate of John J. Hooker, Jr. of Nashville, Tennessee. Hooker was an attorney, businessman, and two time Democratic nominee for Governor of Tennessee.

CONDITION: 4 1/4 in tear to letter at upper left. Old tape stains crossing a portion of Hamilton’s signature and at the edges of the sheet. Adhered to mat along top edge of second page not affecting the page with Hamilton’s signature. Scattered old stains, even toning. Mat is worn and faded with 1″ puncture to center.