The Whiskey Tax and Its Effects on the Economy

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The whiskey tax was designed to put the small producer out of business and consolidate the industry around big producers. The people on the ground out west had the economic critique to see exactly what it was in a way that many of the elites, Hamilton's opponents in the East didn't saw. It really just sort of crushed the place where the, where democratic action had really shifted to the, the West as it was called then.

Astra Taylor interviews William Hogeland on his book Founding Finance: How Debt, Speculation, Foreclosures, Protests, and Crackdowns Made Us a Nation. Hogeland recovers a fascinating crop of mostly-forgotten rebels, the movements they led, and their radical demands that put the landlords and lenders of their day on edge. He also recounts the complex and sometimes deadly machinations that went into suppressing them in order to create a nation that was safe for the owning and investing classes. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig