Moving on before the arrival of troops, America’s first moonshiners at the Whiskey Rebellion showed the signs of a nation split between an industry of legally distilled alcohol and a new black market of illegal moonshine (Watman 31). These rebels relocated to the wilderness in Kentucky, the slopes of the Blue Ridge, and the Smokey Mountains where they would be left alone and could escape government control. It was in these remote places that moonshiners, who opposed the tax, made and sold liquor while alluding tax collectors and capture. The Appalachian Mountains became a dangerous place as government officials encroached on moonshiners protecting their livelihood. The election of Thomas Jefferson, in 1800, brought about the repeal of the tax
