Summary :What is the Issue In 1791, during Washington's presidency Congress passed a tax on whiskey and distilled spirits . The money earned from these taxes was intended to help lower the federal deficit. These taxes fell generally on small farmers on the young nation's western frontier . These farmers often distilled whiskey from their surplus corn crop . The whiskey was then used as medicine and as a form of currency on the cash-strapped frontier . Farmers in these areas also converted substantial portions of their grain into whiskey to make it easier to get to more populous towns and cities