John Fries's Rebellion
Encyclopedia
John Fries's Rebellion, also called the House Tax Rebellion and the Home Tax Rebellion, was an armed tax revolt
Tax revolt
A tax revolt is a political struggle to repeal, limit, or roll back a tax.-1930s, The Great Depression:In the United States, the term "tax revolt" is sometimes used to refer to a series of anti-tax state initiative campaigns. The first significant wave of these campaigns was during the 1930s. The...

 among Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...

 farmers between 1799 and 1800.

Fries's Rebellion was the third of three tax-related rebellions in the 18th Century United States, the earlier two being Shays' Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in central and western Massachusetts from 1786 to 1787. The rebellion is named after Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War....

 and the Whiskey Rebellion
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion, or Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States in the 1790s, during the presidency of George Washington. Farmers who sold their corn in the form of whiskey had to pay a new tax which they strongly resented...

.

Background

When the Quasi-War
Quasi-War
The Quasi-War was an undeclared war fought mostly at sea between the United States and French Republic from 1798 to 1800. In the United States, the conflict was sometimes also referred to as the Franco-American War, the Pirate Wars, or the Half-War.-Background:The Kingdom of France had been a...

 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
Article One of the United States Constitution
Article One of the United States Constitution describes the powers of Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. The Article establishes the powers of and limitations on the Congress, consisting of a House of Representatives composed of Representatives, with each state gaining or...

. It was the first (and last) such federal tax.

Congress had also recently passed the Alien and Sedition Acts
Alien and Sedition Acts
The Alien and Sedition Acts were four bills passed in 1798 by the Federalists in the 5th United States Congress in the aftermath of the French Revolution's reign of terror and during an undeclared naval war with France, later known as the Quasi-War. They were signed into law by President John Adams...

, criminalizing dissent and increasing the power of the executive branch under John Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...

.

John Fries

John Fries (1750-1818) was born in Hatfield township, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 in about 1750. His father was a Welsh immigrant. He trained as a cooper but eventually took a career as an auctioneer, and learned to speak fluent German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 in addition to his native English. He married Margaret Brunner in 1770, and they had ten children. At the time of the rebellion, he was living near Charlestown.

He served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, commanding a company. He was in action at White Marsh
White Marsh
White Marsh or Whitemarsh can refer to:* White Marsh, Maryland, United States* White Marsh, the location of Sacred Heart Church *Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania, United States** Battle of White Marsh, a Revolutionary War battle...

, Camp Hill
Camp Hill
-Australia:* Camp Hill, Queensland, a southern suburb of Brisbane* Camp Hill, a prominent hill in Bendigo with public lookout over the CBD-United States:* Camp Hill, Alabama* Camp Hill, Pennsylvania* Camp Hill, Glenn Springs, South Carolina, a historic site...

, and Crooked Billet. He later also commanded a company in the government's campaign to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion, or Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States in the 1790s, during the presidency of George Washington. Farmers who sold their corn in the form of whiskey had to pay a new tax which they strongly resented...

 of 1794.

He was locally famous for having defeated a foraging raid by the British during the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

.

The beginning of the rebellion

As an itinerant auctioneer, Fries became well acquainted with the German-Americans in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania. In July 1798, during the troubles between the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 now known as the Quasi-War
Quasi-War
The Quasi-War was an undeclared war fought mostly at sea between the United States and French Republic from 1798 to 1800. In the United States, the conflict was sometimes also referred to as the Franco-American War, the Pirate Wars, or the Half-War.-Background:The Kingdom of France had been a...

, the US Congress levied a direct tax
Direct tax
The term direct tax generally means a tax paid directly to the government by the persons on whom it is imposed.-General meaning:In the general sense, a direct tax is one paid directly to the government by the persons on whom it is imposed...

 (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.

Fries organized meetings, starting in February 1799, to discuss a collective response to the tax. Many advocated tax resistance
Tax resistance
Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax or to government policy.Tax resistance is a form of civil disobedience and direct action...

. In Milford township
Milford Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Milford Township is a township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 9,902 at the 2010 census. It is home to the Quakertown interchange of the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.-Geography:...

, 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
Gadsden flag
The Gadsden flag is a historical American flag with a yellow field depicting a rattlesnake coiled and ready to strike. Positioned below the snake is the legend "DONT TREAD ON ME." The flag was designed by and is named after American general and statesman Christopher Gadsden. It was also used by the...

, some armed and in Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...

 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.

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.

The rebellion spreads

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
Northampton Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Northampton Township is a township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States, about 12 miles northeast of Philadelphia. The population was 39,726 at the 2010 census.-History:...

 also begged to resign, but were refused as nobody else could be found to take their places.

Federal warrants were issued, and the U.S. Marshal began arresting people for tax resistance
Tax resistance
Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax or to government policy.Tax resistance is a form of civil disobedience and direct action...

 in Northampton. Arrests were made without much incident until the Marshal reached Millarstown, 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.

Trials

The militia prevailed and Fries and other leaders were arrested.

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
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...

 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.

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

After his reprieve, Fries continued his auctioneering career. Some sources report that he became a prosperous merchant of tin ware in Philadelphia, but Thomas Denton McCormick states there is no evidence to back this story, and also says he just continued his auctioneering career. Fries died at his home south of Trumbauersville, Pennsylvania
Trumbauersville, Pennsylvania
Trumbauersville is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 974 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Trumbauersville is located at ....

 in 1818. A segment of PA Route 663
Pennsylvania Route 663
Pennsylvania Route 663 is a long state highway in Bucks and Montgomery counties in southeast Pennsylvania. Its northern terminus is at PA 309 and PA 313 in Quakertown, where it continues eastward as PA 313, and its southern terminus is at PA 100 in Pottstown. Along the way, PA 663 also passes...

near Trumbauersville is named in his honor.

External links


Further reading

  • Adams, Charles, Those Dirty Rotten Taxes: The Tax Revolts That Built America (Free Press, March 1998) ISBN 0-684-84394-3
  • Bouton, Terry. "'No Wonder the Times Were Troublesome': the Origins of the Fries Rebellion, 1783-1799," Pennsylvania History 2000 67(1): 21-42
  • Churchill, Robert H. "Popular Nullification, Fries' Rebellion, and the Waning of Radical Republicanism, 1798-1801," Pennsylvania History 2000 67(1): 105-14
  • Davis, W.W.H. The Fries Rebellion (1899)
  • Dimmig, Jeffrey S. "Palatine Liberty: Pennsylvania German Opposition to the Direct Tax of 1798," American Journal of Legal History 2001 45(4): 371-390
  • Elkins, Stanley, and Eric McKitrick. The Age of Federalism (1996) pp 696-700
  • Newman, Paul Douglas. Fries's Rebellion: The Enduring Struggle for the American Revolution (2005) ISBN 0-8122-1920-1, the standard scholarly study
  • Pfleger, Birte. "'Miserable Germans' and Fries's Rebellion: Language, Ethnicity, and Citizenship in the Early Republic," Early American Studies: an Interdisciplinary Journal 2004 2(2): 343-361
  • Ridgway, Whitman H. "Fries in the Federalist Imagination: a Crisis of Republican Society," Pennsylvania History 2000 67(1): 141-160
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