The excise law passed Congress on March 3, 1791.

On June 22 the state legislature, by a vote of 36 to 11, requested their senators and representatives in Congress to oppose every part of the bill which "shall militate against the rights and liberties of the people." The western counties of Pennsylvania--Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington, and Allegheny--lie around the head-waters of the Ohio in a radius of more than a hundred miles.

At this time they contained a population of about seventy thousand souls.

Pittsburgh, the seat of justice, had about twelve hundred inhabitants.

The Alleghany Mountains separate this wild region from the eastern section of the State.