The resolutions adopted by them, general in character, read more like a declaration of grievances as a basis for revolution than a petition for special redress.

No wonder that the secretary of the treasury stigmatized them as "intemperate." They charge that in the laws of the late Congress hasty strides had been made to all that was unjust and oppressive.

They complain of the increase in the salaries of officials, of the unreasonable interest of the national debt, of the non-discrimination between original holders and transferees of the public securities, of the National Bank as a base offspring of the funding system; finally, in detail, of the excise law of March 3, 1791.
At this meeting James Marshall and David Bradford represented Washington County.
In August government offices of inspection were opened.

The spirit of resistance was now fully aroused, and in the early days of September the collectors for Washington, Westmoreland, and Fayette were treated with violence.

Unwilling to proceed to excessive measures, and no doubt swayed by the attitude of the Pennsylvania legislature, Congress in October referred the law back to Hamilton for revision.