17. Continuing to oppose the expanding powers of the federal government, the Fries’s Rebellion sought to combat an increase in taxation to finance the enlargement of the American military during the Quasi-War
The third rebellion against the United States during its only seventeen-year existence in the 18th century, the Fries’s Rebellion, also known as the House Tax Rebellion or Heesses-Wasser Uffschtand, was an armed revolt by Pennsylvania Dutch farmers in 1799 and 1800. Fearing an escalation of the Quasi-War between the United States and France, in 1798 Congress imposed $2m of new federal taxes to enlarge the navy and raise a professional army. Among the measures instituted, Congress levied a tax on dwelling-houses and lands. Proving immensely unpopular, starting in February 1799 auctioneer John Fries began organizing a collective response in Pennsylvania to the government’s demands.
Harassing surveyors determining the values and accordant taxes on properties, in March, in a show of strength, the local militia from Quakertown briefly detained a group of assessors. Spreading throughout Pennsylvania, surveyors increasingly became under threat from displeased locals. Arresting the most disruptive protestors under the Alien and Sedition Acts, a plot was initiated to free those imprisoned. Deploying federal troops in response, President Adams ordered the wholesale arrest of all involved including Fries. Tried and convicted for treason, thus sentenced to hang, Adams later pardoned those condemned before executions could be carried out.