4. The Fries Rebellion led to treason charges against John Fries
In 1798, the United States and Revolutionary France were involved in a series of naval battles and privateering actions in what became known as the Quasi-War. Quasi or not, wars cost money and the federal government under John Adams enacted tax levies to raise $2 million, on slaves and real property, apportioned to the states in accordance with the Constitution. Pennsylvania was required to contribute $237,000 and with few slaves to levy taxes on, the legislature taxed houses and commercial buildings, the amount determined by the number of windows, or in some instances the size of the windows. The specter of tax collectors counting and measuring windows and the tax itself aroused considerable resentment.
An auctioneer named John Fries organized resistance to the measurers and collectors, which spread rapidly across Pennsylvania. When the US Marshal was unable to quell the increasingly violent resistance President John Adams sent in federal troops. Fries and most of the organizers were arrested. Fries was tried for treason and convicted, sentenced to be hanged. President Adams, who had earlier championed the Sedition Act, used a narrow definition of the term treason and pardoned the auctioneer. Adams noted than many of the tax resisters were of German descent or recent arrival and spoke little English, and were thus ignorant of the law when he issued a general amnesty in 1800.