Original Document

"To the Honorable the Representatives of the Freemen of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met.
"The Petition of the Inhabitants of Westmoreland County-Humbly Sheweth.

"That your petitioners are greatly aggrieved by the present operation of an Excise Law, passed on the 19th day of March 1783, by which we are made subject to a duty of four pence per gallon on all spirituous liquors distilled and consumed amongst us from the productions of our farms, even for private and domestic uses. It is generally believed that excise laws, in all nations and at all periods, have given greater disgust, and created greater tumults amongst the people, than any other species of taxation ever adopted for the raising of revenue; we do not hesitate to declare, that this law has already been productive of all those and many other evils, and that it is the only one passed since our revolution that has been treated with general disapprobation, and reflected upon with universal abhorrence and detestation: and such has been the resentment of many of our fellow citizens, which we are sorry to have occasion to confess, that they have, upon several occasions, proceeded to unwarrantable lengths in opposing its operations.

"We do not deny that we are as strongly rooted in the habits, and as much addicted to the use of spirituous liquors as our brethren in the eastern part of the state: having emigrated from among them, we cannot be condemned for carrying their customs along with us. But independent of habit, we find that the moderate use of spirits is essentially necessary in several branches of our agriculture.

"In this new country, labourers are exceedingly scarce, and their hire excessively high, and we find that liquor proves a necessary means of engaging their service and securing their continuance through the several important seasons of the year, when the pressing calls of labour must be attended to, let the conditions be what they may. For these reasons we have found it absolutely necessary to introduce a number of small distilleries into our settlements, and in every circle of twenty or thirty neighbours, one of these are generally erected, merely for the accommodation of such neighbourhood and without any commercial views whatever. The proprietor thereof receives the grain (rye only) from the people, and returns the stipulated quantity of liquor, after retaining the toll agreed upon. In this manner we are supplied with this necessary article, much upon the same conditions that our mills furnish us with flour; and why we should be made subject to a duty for drinking our grain more than eating it, seems a matter of astonishment to every reflecting mind.

"These distilleries, small and insignificant as they are, have always been classed among the first objects of taxation, and have been highly estimated in the valuation of property. This, we conceive, might fully suffice, without extending revenue to the mean and humble manufacture produced by them.
"With as much propriety a duty might be laid on the rye we feed to our horses; the bread we eat ourselves, or any other article manufactured from the products of our own farms.

"Our remote situation from the channels of commerce, has long ago prohibited the use of all imported liquors amongst us, and as we are aiming at independence in our manner of living, we have neither the abilities or inclination to aspire to their use. We freely resign them to our eastern neighbours, whom Providence has placed under the meridian rays of commercial affluence, and whose local situation confer on them many enjoyments which nature has denied to us; and whilst they are revelling in the luxuries of the most bountiful foreign climes, we are perfectly content with the humble produce of our own farms, and it is our only wish to be permitted to enjoy them in freedom.

"We beg that we may not be considered as unfriendly to the supporting of a government, which we so highly approve, as that of Pennsylvania. We have too exalted ideas of the blessings deriving from it, to ever suffer such thoughts to harbour in our breasts. The payment, of the state tax has always been submitted to with cheerfulness, and paid to the utmost of our abilities. And here we cannot forbear expressing our astonishment at the suspension of a tax so just and equitable in its nature, whilst the excise complained of is continued to be exacted with rigor. We have reason to believe that the produce of this excise will amount to the same, or perhaps exceed that of our state tax, and if we had any security for the net produce thereof getting into the treasury, it would afford some consolation; but from the flagrant delinquency which we have experienced from many of our revenue officers in this county, as well as from a want of confidence in the present excise officer and his security, our fears are greatly awakened upon the present occasion.

"We find that the security required by law from this county, is fixed at the low rate of one hundred and fifty pounds only, when it is probable that the sum to be collected, may amount to one thousand. On this circumstance we shall only remark, that there are few men in the present day, who would not readily forfeit and pay a penalty of one hundred and fifty pounds, provided they could put a thousand in their pockets by so doing.

"It is with pleasure that we reflect upon the many instances of liberality and general encouragement which the legislature, as well as many respectable societies, have given through the course of some years past, for rendering ourselves still more independent of foreign nations, by promoting and improving every branch of our own manufacture; we therefore flatter ourselves that the present assembly will no longer suffer a law to remain in existence which is so evidently calculated to counteract the virtuous designs of those respectable bodies, and which proves so universally obnoxious to the people of this western world. We therefore humbly pray, that the several observations herein stated, may be taken into serious consideration, and that the present excise law, so far as it extends to the laying of a duty or imposition of any kind whatever, upon liquors made or distilled from the productions of this state, may be fully and speedily repealed. And your petitioners as in duty bound will pray."

(Signed by thirty citizens.)


Credit: Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, XT, 670-673.