section_path: History/Early modern period
section_name: Early modern period
paragraph_text: Early modern period
  
  in 1690, England passed "An Act for the Encouraging of the Distillation of Brandy and Spirits from Corn" Alcoholic beverages played an important role in the Thirteen Colonies from their early days when drinking wine and beer at that time was safer than drinking water – which was usually taken from sources also used to dispose of sewage and garbage. Drinking hard liquor was common occurrence in early nineteenth-century United States.
  
  The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a violent tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government. Beer was difficult to transport and spoiled more easily than rum and whiskey.