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JOHN FRIES (c. 1764-1825)

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 230 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN FRIES (c. 1764-1825)  ,
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American insurgent leader, was born in Pennsylvania of " Dutch " (German) descent about 1764 . As an itinerant auctioneer he became well acquainted with the Germans in the S.E.
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part of Pennsylvania . In
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July 1798, during the troubles between the
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United States and France, Congress levied a
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direct tax (on dwelling-houses, lands and slaves) of $2,000,000, of which Pennsylvania was called upon to contribute $237,000 . There were very few slaves in the state, and the tax was accordingly assessed upon dwelling-houses and
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land, the value of the houses being determined by the number and
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size of the windows . The inquisitorial nature of the proceedings aroused strong opposition among the Germans, and many of them refused to pay . Fries, assuming leadership, organized an armed
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band of about sixty men, who marched about the country intimidating the assessors and encouraging the
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people to resist . At last the governor called out the militia (March 1799) and the leaders were arrested . Fries and two others were twice tried for treason (the second time before
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Samuel Chase) and were sentenced to be hanged, but they were pardoned by President Adams in
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April 1800, and a general amnesty was issued on 21St May . The affair is variously known as the "Fries
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Rebellion," the "Hot-
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Water Rebellion "—because hot water was used to drive assessors from houses—, and the " Home Tax Rebellion." Fries died in
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Philadelphia in 1825 . See T . Carpenter, Two Trials of John Fries ... Taken in Short-hand (Philadelphia, r800) ; the second
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volume of McMaster's
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History of the United States (New York, 1883) ; and W .

W . H .

Davis, The Fries Rebellion (Doylestown, Pa., 1899) .

End of Article: JOHN FRIES (c. 1764-1825)
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