And yet one of George Washington's most important early acts as president was to assert the power of the new federal government to tax and control citizens with the army if need be when he himself marched out against the so-called "Whiskey rebellion".

He vigorously asserted the national government's power to centralize, and to tax, and to pay the national debt through taxation on Pennsylvanians and others. It is a hallmark pivitol step, and believe me, he and the other founders knew exactly what he was doing and what the long term effect would be. Anything less would have been the quick unravelling of all that the revolutionary founders had fought for.