Rebellion in the Early Republic - Farmer Upri...

Tensions reached a climax in the freezing winter of 1787, as Daniel Shays and 1,500 rebel soldiers stormed the federal arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts. The rebels hoped to seize arms and ammunition and burn Boston to the ground. What they didn’t know was that a government a ...  Show more

Only a few years after Shays’ Rebellion was suppressed, a new revolt broke out in western Pennsylvania. Anti-government resentment had been growing on the frontier for years. Then in 1791, the U.S. government handed down a tax on domestic spirits. It became known as the Whiskey T ...  Show more

Just a few years after the Declaration of Independence, an uprising against a levy on liquor became the first great test for the government of the nascent United States of America. But what drove ordinary people to take up arms against the federal government? And why did foundi ...  Show more

From sugar to paper, a series of taxes in the 1760s spark outrage amongst American colonists that snowball into a revolution. Was it inevitable that thirteen of Britain's 26 colonies in the Atlantic would band together and break away from the British Empire? Listen as Anita and W ...  Show more

"No taxation without representation" is often thought of as the main beef that led to the American Revolution, but it was only one of many moving parts in the bigger picture. Read the show notes for this episode here.

In the 1800s, Irish farmers began protesting against greedy landlords and excessive tithes. But before long, these protests turned violent—even murderous. As the Mollies began popping up in coal-mining Pennsylvania, the death toll would only continue to grow. Learn more about you ...  Show more