Conference on the Whiskey Rebellion

Conference concerning the insurrection in western Pennsylvania. Washington begins the conference by stating that the "most spirited and firm measures" are necessary to counteract the Whiskey Rebellion because it threatens the very existence of the Constitution. That said, Washington insisted that the federal government not overreach beyond the bounds of the Constitution, and to work with the Pennsylvania government. Thomas McKean, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, warned that "the employment of military force, at this period, would be as bad as anything that the Rioters had done - equally unconstitutional and illegal." If left to the courts, McKean argued, the rioters could be prosecuted and punished without resorting to military force. Secretary Hamilton, naturally, "insisted upon the propriety of an immediate resort to Military force."