What were the causes and process of the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 and to what extent does it symbolize the division between the Federalist & Republican factions?

The causes of the Whiskey Rebellion can be explained in terms of the immediate events preceding it; however a true understanding also requires an explanation of the political differences which plagued American since its independence. The immediate cause of the Rebellion was the imposition of an excise tax on the production of whiskey. The then Federalist run government implemented the tax to finance the costs of building up American defenses which followed the British seizure …

…process of capitalism would express itself in America. Would it be hierarchical, elitist, and authoritarian, controlled by the central government, or would it be more egalitarian, where autonomous men could be free to take care of their own business? Whichever interpretation is taken, one immediate result of the Rebellion was the Republican Party's entry as a legitimate political movement, further hardening the divide between Federalists and Republicans and marking the rise of our two-party system.