The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 1, Issue 1, April 2015 | Page 26

the Mingo Creek Society. Established February 28, 1794, they spoke in
exaggerated terms of liberty. Members elected each other to public office or
influenced elections, and sometimes, were able to keep things out of the courts. The
other society, located in Washington County, and formed in approximately March
1794, included prominent citizens as officers, such as James Marshal and David
Bradford. Members of the Mingo Creek Society and the Washington Society were
part of the vigilantes who burned John Neville’s house in July 1794.
George Washington supported Hamilton regarding quelling the rebellion.
He said the “insurrection” was the “first ripe fruit of the Democratic Societies,” and
wrote to John Jay that the Whiskey Boys “precipitated a crisis for which they were
not prepared.” 18 Jefferson showed his displeasure regarding the side Washington
took when, in his December letter to Madison, he wrote, “It is wonderful indeed
that the President should have permitted himself to be the organ of such an attack
on the freedom of discussion.” Washington thought that the Whiskey Boys would
destroy the union created by the Revolutionary War if allowed to continue with
their violent uprising. His position regarding the use of the military to handle a civil
event was the first real stretch of the executive branch’s right to order and lead
troops.
Elected representatives from western Pennsylvania and other counties met
at Parkinson’s Ferry on
August
14,
1794.
Albert Gallatin, a
representative in the
Pennsylvania
Assembly,
opposed
David
Bradford’s
proposal to raise arms
against the government
leaders in eastern
Pennsylvania. 19
The
peace process began Figure 1 Washington Reviewing the Western Army, at Fort
with Mr. Gallatin’s Cumberland, Maryland. Oil on canvas attributed to Frederick
Kemmelmeyer. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
speech, and they drew
up a resolution 20 that
promised protection to the people and property involved with the tax collection.
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