Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society ; v. 18, no. 4
Summary
This journal article contains a letter sent by German-American citizens in Pennsylvania to President John Adams. In the letter, they ask for his help in being compensated for their imprisonment that was imposed for their participation in the protest against the tax imposed upon their property. Their protest is known as Fries's Rebellion after the leader of the protest, John Fries. The article also describes Fries's trial and conviction for treason and his pardon by President Adams.
Notes
From Britanica.com: "Fries's Rebellion, (1799), uprising, in opposition to a direct federal property tax, by farmers in eastern Pennsylvania led by John Fries (c. 1750-1818). In July of 1798, the Federalist-controlled U.S. Congress, which greatly needed revenues for an anticipated war with France, had voted a direct federal tax on all real property, including land, buildings, and slaves. This tax, which caused widespread national resentment against the John Adams administration, infuriated the German farmers of Bucks, Northampton, and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania. Eventually, several hundred farmers took up arms under the leadership of John Fries. At Bethlehem, Pa., Fries and his men forced, by intimidation rather than by actual violence, the release of a group of tax resisters who had been imprisoned under the custody of the federal marshal. In response, President Adams called out a force of federal troops and militia, who marched into the rebellious counties and began making wholesale arrests of the insurgents. John Fries was captured and subsequently tried twice, convicted of treason on each occasion, and sentenced to hang. He was pardoned by Adams in April 1800, when the president declared a general amnesty for all those who had been involved in the 'rebellion'."
