1795 Gubernatorial Election: Adams vs Everybody
THE FOLLOWING CONTEST, SCHEDULED FOR ONE TERM IS FOR THE 1795 MASSACHUSETTS GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION! INTRODUCING FIRST THE CHALLENGERS. REPRESENTING ANY AND ALL PARTIES....EVERYONE!
Even the horses had a chance
The incumbent
"Why would anyone want to go to war over simple taxes? Oh...wait...." - Alexander Hamilton
"Tell that no good Hamilton to stick his tax in his ear!" - US citizens
"You ungrateful riff raff, I'll tax all of you!" - George Washington
"Its Washington! Okay men...ready....aim....RETREATTTTT!!!!!" - The rebels
"Amenda----amenda----amenda....urrrp"
Fight!
Its a landslide!
AND STILLLLL GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS, SAMUEL ADAMS!
AND THEIR OPPONENT. HE IS THE CURRENT GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS....SAMUEL ADAMS!
As the calendar turned from 1794 to 1795 a lot was going on in the United States but up in Massachusetts, Samuel Adams had taken over the stronghold of the Governor's chair from his late friend John Hancock. Since Adams and Hancock went hand in hand during the American Revolution and beyond, Adams was just as popular as John was. It would take a miracle to get him out of his seat. But what was going on at the time? In July of 1794, the Whiskey Rebellion got out of hand. What's that, you ask? Similar to the Shay's Rebellion, it was once again a fight over taxes.
Similar to the Shay's situation, Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamiltion looked at the books once the central government was established in 1789 and went "Holy bleep we're broke!" He consolidated the individual states debt into a national debt....which turned out to be $79 million dollars counting all the money borrowed during the Revolutionary War. Hamilton said the best way to erase the debt would be to tax the citizens on distilled spirits....in other words, whiskey. Just like Shay's Rebellion, the problem wasn't in the cities, but the rural areas. People living in the woods of western Massachusetts, the Ohio valley and upstate New York weren't generating physical coin with their goods, they were using it to barter with the local native American tribes or the odd Canadian. Hamilton's ingenious plan to demand physical cash from places that had none went over like a Thanksgiving fart, and thus, the Rebellion was born.
So how did it start? At first the rebels simply told the tax collectors to make like a banana and split. Then when Hamilton told the collectors to really come down on them, instead the rebels came down on the collectors. The collectors were tarred, feathered and sent back to Hamilton with a message they're not paying the stupid tax. In 1792, George Washington himself issued a proclamation essentially to shut your mouths and do as your told. Anyone who thought the federal government telling you to wear your masks and follow the rules in 2020 was a dictatorship, newsflash, the government always was.
To make a long story short, too late, by 1794 after a few excursions, the rebels had planned to march to the White House. Ex-General Washington himself said "screw this" and planned to lead the federal troops to squash the rebellion once and for all. The only time in US history a sitting president led troops in potential combat. Washington rallied nearly 13,000 federal troops and met the rebels head on in Pennsylvania. Washington said if they wanted to rumble, let's rumble and the rebels said "WE GIVE UP!" In the aftermath, out of 2,000 rebels only 150 were arrested. Of those, only 24 were indicted. Of the 24, only 10 stood trial. Of the 10, only 2 were to be hanged. Washington himself pardoned the two and told them to get out of here before he gave them a slap.
What did any of this have to do with the upcoming election? Absolutely nothing. In February 1795, the 11th amendment to the US Constitution was passed which means you can't sue a state in federal court if you're from another state of country. If someone from New Hampshire woke up and said "Grass, the hell does it think it is" and sued Massachusetts for bad weather, the 11th amendment protected Massachusetts.
So what about the election? On April 6, 1795 Samuel Adams basically ran against everybody and anybody. Citizens essentially turned their support from the late John Hancock to Samuel Adams so it would be foolish to run against the juggernaut. Lt. Governor Moses Gill, Benjamin Lincoln and others still tried anyway. Let's see how it turned out.
As expected, ITS A LANDSLIDE! The other candidates combined took 1,734 votes for just 10% of the vote. Adams himself got 15,976 votes for 90% of the vote. His reign was never in doubt.
The winds of change were about to sweep through the federal government as George Washington's second term was nearing its end. Many felt John Adams had as good as chance as anyone to win the Presidency in the 1796 election. Samuel was holding the fort in the meantime from the Governor's chair. As of right now, Samuel was still the champ.
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