The whiskey rebellion was tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 during the presidency of George Washington. Many of the resisters were war veterans who believed that they were fighting for the principles of the American Revolution, in particular against taxation without local representation, while the federal government maintained that the taxes were the legal expression of Congressional taxation powers. They began violent protests, and George Washington sent out peace commissioners to negotiate with the rebels, while at the same time calling on governors to send a militia force to enforce the tax.