John Fries (; 1750February 1818) was a

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

auctioneer An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

. He organized

Fries's Rebellion Fries's Rebellion (), also called House Tax Rebellion, the Home Tax Rebellion and, in Pennsylvania German, the Heesses-Wasser Uffschtand, was an armed tax revolt among Pennsylvania Dutch farmers between 1799 and 1800. It was the third of three t ...

, an early episode of tax resistance in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Biography

Early life

He was born in Hatfield Township, Montgomery County,

in about 1750. His father, Simon Fries, was a German immigrant. He trained as a cooper but eventually took a career as an auctioneer. He married Margaret Brunner in 1770, and they had ten children. He served in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, commanding a company. He was in action at White Marsh, Camp Hill, and Crooked Billet. His defeat of a British foraging raid made him locally famous. He later also commanded a company in the government's campaign to suppress the

Whiskey Rebellion 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 impo ...

of 1794.

Rebellion

At the time of the rebellion named for him (1799-1800), Fries was living near Charlestown (present-day Trumbauersville). As an itinerant auctioneer, he became well acquainted with the German-Americans issues in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania. Starting in February 1799, he organized meetings to discuss a collective response to a tax the federal government had levied in response to the

Quasi-War The Quasi-War (french: Quasi-guerre) was an undeclared naval war fought from 1798 to 1800 between the United States and the French First Republic, primarily in the Caribbean and off the East Coast of the United States. The ability of Congres ...

. Federal officers who were sent to Pennsylvania to collect its portion of the tax were resisted by a party of opposition which Fries had rallied from among the German speaking populations of Montgomery, Lehigh, Bucks and Berks counties. At

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

, 7 March 1799, the United States marshal was compelled by this party to release 30 prisoners who had been arrested for refusing to obey the law. The rebellion was at length put down by the militia which U.S. President

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

ordered out, and among those captured was Fries, who was subsequently tried twice and on each occasion sentenced to death. In April 1800 he was pardoned by President Adams, who at the same time proclaimed an amnesty to all concerned in the rebellion.

Pardon

How the pardon was gained has been told with an apparent word of mouth legend: "Now John Fries was an old man. He had a wife and ten children, several of whom were small—one, tiny baby. It was thought a great pity that a man so old and with a family so sadly in need of help and support should be sent to the gallows. It was therefore agreed to draw up a petition and send it about among the inhabitants of the community to be signed, begging the President to pardon the old man. Several thousand signed their names to the petition. The paper was then given into the hand of Mrs. Fries, who, with her infant in her arms and her nine children following, went to present it to President Adams. They were invited into the room where the President sat, and before he was aware of it the sorrow-stricken mother and all her children were on their knees before him. She handed him the petition, begging him to speak the word that would spare the life of her husband. "It was a moment of great suspense. President Adams glanced hastily at the petition and then looked down upon the supplicating group. Tears sprang to his eyes. He rose and raised his hands to heaven. Then he rushed from the room and seizing a pen wrote a full and free pardon, which he presented to the weeping mother. Words could not express the poor woman’s gratitude, and the children who were old enough to understand were beside themselves with joy. The President needed no other thanks than to look into their radiant, tear-stained faces. And ever after, to the sons and daughters of John Fries, the name of the great-hearted President was a sacred household word" (Fearson, Mrs. G.E. ''Paths of Uprightness''. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Metropolitan Church Association, 1933, pages 13–14).

Later life

After his reprieve, Fries continued his auctioneering career. Some sources report that he became a prosperous merchant of tin ware in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, but Thomas Denton McCormick states there is no evidence to back this story, and also says he just continued his auctioneering career. Fries died at his home, on the old Allentown Road, south of Trumbauersville in 1818. A segment of

Pennsylvania Route 663 Pennsylvania Route 663 (PA 663) is a state highway in Montgomery and Bucks counties in southeast Pennsylvania. Its southern terminus is at PA 100 in the borough of Pottstown and its northern terminus is at PA 309 and PA& ...

between Quakertown and Pennsburg is named in his honor.RootsWeb: PAMONTGO-L [PAMONTGO-L] News from Pennsburg - June 26, 2003
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References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fries, John 1750s births 1818 deaths American tax resisters Continental Army officers from Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Dutch people People from Bucks County, Pennsylvania People from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania People of the Quasi-War Recipients of American presidential pardons American auctioneers American people of German descent People convicted of treason against the United States Prisoners sentenced to death by the United States federal government