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I 11 the other hand, was shocked at the unbridled fero- ciousness with which the revolutionaries annihi- lated suspected counterrevolutionaries and sought to overturn the old order. He accurately foresaw that the licentiousness unleashed in France would culminate not in a free society but in despotism. He, therefore, urged Washington to avoid any alli- ance between the United States and France that might threaten its commercial relationship with Great Britain. Washington, recognizing that the fragile Amer- ican republic would not survive the division and turmoil caused by involvement in a foreign war, announced a policy of U.S. neutrality in the war between Britain and France. Washington’s pro- nouncement, which became known as the Neu- trality Proclamation of 1793, unleashed a political firestorm that further divided the country along partisan lines. Whereas the Hamiltonian Feder- alists supported the proclamation, Jefferson and Madison declared that Washington had usurped the power of Congress to declare war. In a series of controversial essays, written under the pseud- onym Pacificus, Hamilton defended the Neutrality Proclamation both as good policy and as a legiti- mate exercise of presidential power. The president, Hamilton argued, possessed the rightful authority not only to enforce the law but also to determine the conditions necessary for maintaining peace with other nations under the obligations of treaties and the law of nations. In 1794, following an intense congressional investigation by Democratic-Republicans into his tenure as Treasury secretary, Hamilton was pre- pared to resign from Washington’s cabinet, when a rebellion broke out in Western Pennsylvania. In protest of federal excise taxes on whiskey, thou- sands of armed militants expelled federal tax col- lectors and threatened to burn Pittsburg to the ground. Hamilton argued, in several short essays published under the pseudonym Tully, that the whiskey rebels were undermining constitutional government, democracy, and the rule of law, by attempting to forcefully overthrow laws that had been constitutionally enacted by a majority of the people’s representatives in Congress. Hamilton urged Washington to quickly suppress the insur- rection. After several failed efforts at conciliation, Washington agreed to a military showdown, rais- ing over 12,000 infantry and cavalrymen from the militias of several states. In order to emphasize the gravity of the mission, both he and Hamil- ton accompanied the militia into the heart of the uprising. The massive show of federal force was sufficient to dispel the rebels without fighting or bloodshed. In the end, Washington pardoned all who had been arrested and convicted as a result of the expedition. Forrest McDonald (1979) observes that the “combination of both strength and clem- ency” exhibited in the federal mission “had a salutary effect throughout the land: a wave of enthusiasm for the administration swept the coun- try, and with few exceptions seditious and even libelous talk virtually ceased” (302). In a show of support for the Washington administration, voters reelected Federalist majorities to both houses of Congress that year. Having placed the nation’s finances and public credit in good order, having kept the country free of dangerous foreign entanglements, and having helped establish reverence for federal law, Hamil- ton issued his official resignation from Washing- ton’s cabinet and prepared to return to his family and law practice. Despite his departure, however, Hamilton continued to serve as one of Washing- ton’s closest advisers. He played a prominent role in the campaign to ratify the Jay Treaty, which— though extremely unpopular at the time—helped to prevent war with Great Britain over its seizure of U.S. ships. Washington was immensely grate- ful for Hamilton’s contributions to the success of his administration and his role in helping erect a solid foundation for the new and fragile nation. In a letter to Hamilton just following his official res- ignation, Washington acclaimed, “In every relation which you have borne to me, I have found that my confidence in your talents, exertions, and integrity has been well placed.” In a last major service to his