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To Execute the Laws of the Union, The Whiskey Rebellion, by Donna Neary.
Credit: United States Army National Guard
On October 3, 1794, Commander in Chief George Washignton, accompanied by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who had also served as his aide during the American Revolution, reviewed New Jersey units at Harrisburg. Pennsylvania. Washington's use of the Militia Law of 1792 to send close to 13,000 soldiers to quell the "Whiskey Rebellion" in western Pennsylvania set the precedent for the use of the militia to "execute the laws of the union, (and) suppress insurrections."