B. That the military could be used to suppress violent reactions to state or federal laws.
Explanation:
The federal response to the Whiskey Rebellion showed how different the national government was from under the Articles of Confederation to the current national government that was under the United States Constitution. The national government under the Articles of Confederation proved to be very weak. They could not do a lot of things, one of them was not being able to stop confrontations and violent reactions from happening.
Shay's Rebellion was one of these, which really showed a lot of people how weak the national government was. Shay's Rebellion was where angry farmers revolted because they did not want their land to be taken away by the government. The national government did not have the power to stop these people, as they didn't even have the money to send troops to stop them, due to the fact they did not have the power to tax.
With the new national government under the United States Constitution, things were very different. The Whiskey Rebellion started when a tax was put on whiskey. Hamilton thought this was a good idea, as it would raise money for the national government and could control the drinking habits of Americans. Many people disagreed with this though and many angry Americans started a rebellion.
President Washington sent troops immediately to squash the rebellion, which was very effective. The rebellion was shut down quickly and just showed how much power the national government had now. They could easily use their military to suppress violent reactions and help protect the country, unlike before.
