00:00 - This program has been paid for by the sponsor and does not reflect

00:03 - the views of PCN.

00:23 - All right, here we go.

00:23 - Let's roll. Sound! Roll. Camera.

00:25 - Scene 13.

00:26 - Have you common mark, take fun.

00:53 - No. With your.

00:53 - Have no window tax with us.

00:58 - Yeah.

00:59 - You know.

01:03 - You're

01:04 - you're on the same team you're all supporting.

01:07 - Signing this document is going to Congress.

01:12 - I'm an Bartholomew.

01:14 - I'm the vice president of the lower country

01:16 - Historical Society and have been so for several years.

01:20 - Our board has been talking about a way, a simple way to,

01:24 - to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States.

01:28 - And we went back and forth on several ideas.

01:31 - Should it be one grand event, one big event,

01:35 - or should it be a continuum of events that have happened

01:38 - since the foundation of the United States until the present?

01:42 - We were involved, for example, in the Industrial Revolution.

01:45 - We want if all of that.

01:46 - Well, our ideas kept coming back to the phrase rebellion.

01:50 - The John Freeze Rebellion of the late 1790s.

01:53 - This was, a campaign to try to stop the United States government

01:58 - from imposing a property tax, the very first federal property

02:03 - tax on owners of property, buildings, slaves.

02:07 - Now, in Pennsylvania, slaves were in a non-issue at that time.

02:10 - In the more we talked about it, the more we liked this idea.

02:14 - And, our president, Sir John Williams,

02:16 - took it home with her, let it stew in her brain for a while,

02:20 - and then came back and said, well, I've started writing the script,

02:26 - which sort of Florida's.

02:28 - But, it it's a grand script.

02:31 - We have also developed a teacher's guide that gives a lot of background information

02:36 - that you won't find in the movie itself, but teachers have access to it

02:40 - so that they can use it in instruction to the children.

02:45 - And, you know, without her, we couldn't have done this.

02:47 - We could not have made this movie.

02:48 - She conceived the idea.

02:51 - She wrote the script,

02:53 - she did all of the fundraising or almost all of the fundraising.

02:56 - She, she didn't

02:59 - actually play the harp very much in this budget.

03:03 - That's her profession.

03:04 - She's a harpist.

03:05 - She did play the harp a little bit.

03:07 - So she's covered all bases in her, personal life in this movie.

03:11 - But one of the greatest things that she did was

03:15 - she found this really amazing professional to put filmmakers.

03:19 - And we think that their work is quite amazing.

03:22 - And really interprets this story

03:24 - so that it's not a boring book

03:27 - type thing put on movie

03:30 - put in as a movie, but it's an exciting story

03:33 - where a girl and her uncle travel around the area

03:37 - learning about the free rebellion, visiting the sites of the Free Rebellion,

03:42 - and the girl you'll

03:45 - see in the movie, senses it.

03:49 - We hope you enjoy the movie.

04:07 - Hi, my name is Jason

04:08 - Ciroc and I had the awesome privilege,

04:12 - opportunity through Sarah Jane and the members

04:15 - of the production team to actually play John Freeze in the upcoming film.

04:19 - I've been reading and,

04:20 - writing a little bit about John Freeze for quite some years.

04:23 - I talk about Pennsylvania diet history throughout the greater, Upper Bucks,

04:30 - upper Montgomery County, southern Lehigh, Lehigh Valley areas,

04:34 - and we have a rich, rich diet heritage.

04:38 - And I hope that this story will get people to connect to something.

04:43 - You know, I'm fortunate that I have grandparents that still spoke the dialect,

04:48 - but I didn't grow in a very obvious state Pennsylvania Dutch land.

04:54 - But when you look around, you begin to see it.

04:57 - And I also work in the court system.

05:00 - That's the very place that John Freeze operated.

05:04 - If John Freeze and his people were there, would they asked me to join them?

05:09 - Sitting at a tavern, walking them on the street?

05:13 - Would I have to arrest him?

05:14 - These are all questions that everyone deals with today.

05:18 - Everyone has to deal with the idea that

05:21 - what's the difference between a peaceful protest?

05:24 - What's rebellion, what's too much?

05:29 - John freezes men and the women that were involved

05:32 - questioned foreign tax, a taxes for foreign war.

05:37 - Do we, go to farm country

05:40 - and ask people to pay for a foreign war with our tax dollars?

05:44 - You know, all these things have to happen to make a good and productive society.

05:48 - But the questions are the same now as then.

05:52 - So again, I love this opportunity.

05:55 - I'm so thankful that I can be a part of this,

05:58 - this rich Pennsylvania German heritage that we can share and share with others.

06:04 - I cannot wait for the final product.

06:10 - Hi, my name is Pete Gustafson.

06:13 - My wife Erica and I are really excited to be part of the Frieze Rebellion film.

06:18 - Even more so because we discovered that our house here,

06:21 - built around 1790, was built by Jacob and Henry Hoover, who

06:27 - anyone who's involved in the film will know were prominent members

06:30 - of the rebellion and are featured in the film itself.

06:33 - So that made the project even that much more exciting for us,

06:37 - and we are so glad that we were able to be part of it.

06:58 - Time.

06:58 - Christopher I'm Bonnie Stump

07:01 - and we live here at John Freeze House.

07:04 - My parents bought this property in 1956,

07:08 - and, I've lived here ever since.

07:12 - Grew up here.

07:13 - We found out about it being John Freeze House

07:17 - when I was in elementary school.

07:20 - So it would have been in the 60s.

07:23 - And, the historical society

07:25 - from Bucks County put a sign out front, and,

07:29 - we didn't know anything about John freezes or never heard of it.

07:32 - So my dad did a lot of research on it.

07:35 - I knew John had ten children and often

07:39 - wondered how he could do it in this small house,

07:42 - but the upstairs was a full attic when we moved here,

07:47 - and there was a ladder that went up through a trap door

07:51 - and, my dad, before my dad knew it was John Freeze house.

07:55 - He's kidding.

07:55 - Just made two bedrooms upstairs.

07:59 - So, but under the roof is, tree trunks,

08:04 - different sized tree trunks with those little wooden pegs.

08:08 - That used to be a doorway where they would open the door

08:12 - and pour hot water or whatever else

08:15 - was handy out on the tax collectors.

08:19 - And it was made into a window,

08:21 - before we knew it was John Tree's house.

08:24 - But I always enjoyed living here.

08:27 - It's, almost a 20 acre property.

08:30 - There is an Indian cave in the woods.

08:32 - Okay.

08:33 - This used to be a four story barn that, John Trees had built.

08:38 - But it didn't

08:41 - withhold as well as the house because it was always down

08:46 - around the bottom and that one side and then the rest was frame, so.

08:52 - And and the roof was just ten.

08:55 - And it it took a beating over the years.

08:58 - So it came down.

09:01 - But we still had the remnants of it.

09:05 - I enjoyed being in the

09:06 - John in the Pfizer dying movie.

09:10 - It was actually like being in 1799.

09:14 - Everything was so, professional.

09:18 - And it was an experience of a lifetime for me.

09:27 - So what do you think a movie I think plays really entertaining?

09:31 - I think if you look back to the history,

09:35 - well, this is good because it wasn't just like that.

09:38 - It had a backstory around it and, like, different

09:43 - from different

09:45 - times.

09:47 - I think it would

09:49 - run into each other all these places.

09:52 - And I didn't know, like all I know.

09:57 - What was your favorite part?

09:59 - How it was like real life and it wasn't like played out like other years.

10:05 - And these are

10:06 - and this is actually part one, like the flashback,

10:11 - like old.

10:14 - And I would definitely recommend it to

10:16 - I know.

10:33 - My name is Michael

10:34 - Owen, and I'm portraying the role of U.S.

10:37 - Marshal William Nichols. He.

10:47 - Did. A.

11:10 - He year.

11:19 - I believe the main difference between Marshal Nichols

11:22 - and the other characters in the story is that he is

11:25 - also one of the outsiders in this new world, immigrating

11:29 - to the colonies in 1768 at the age of 14 with his older brother, Francis Nichols.

11:35 - He and his brother and left behind

11:37 - in Ireland, played religious conflicts, lack of political autonomy

11:43 - and dire economic conditions.

11:47 - Nichols sees

11:48 - the same happening to the German folks of Pennsylvania.

11:51 - I believe he is torn in wanting to support his family.

11:55 - However, with his new position, he can see the same

11:58 - opposition, taxation and mismanagement

12:01 - from a government against the people and this newly forming country.

12:34 - Oh, hi.

12:34 - Gorgeous people.

12:35 - It's me, Carson Kressley, reporting live from Los Angeles.

12:39 - The film has turned out

12:40 - so beautifully and tells such an important and amazing story of our local history.

12:44 - So you're going to enjoy the film.

12:45 - And it's a great way to support our local heritage and history.

13:02 - I'm Danita Freese, and it's interesting

13:04 - because the project was happening way, way before I got involved.

13:08 - It was a fundraiser happening for it.

13:10 - I saw it and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's my family.

13:13 - When I saw that and I was able to trace it,

13:15 - I wanted to reach out and let you know the project, know

13:19 - that, you know, there was a descendant, you know, around.

13:23 - And so I reached out and, you know, kind of got involved in there.

13:27 - I wanted to become a sponsor because I wanted to help the project,

13:29 - because I do think it's really important since I didn't even know the history.

13:33 - Right. And exactly what had happened.

13:35 - I found it even more important for this

13:37 - film to get out there and it is part of my history

13:40 - and my family's history, and that the level of being involved,

13:45 - rather than just being a sponsor, actually being able

13:48 - to be involved in the film, see it being made, but also be in the film

13:52 - once it comes out, is there's there's no words for it.

13:56 - You know, it's it's just incredibly special.

14:06 - I mean, it's been such a really, really fun project.

14:09 - We've been

14:10 - kind of connected to it for so long that it was really nice to have it all.

14:14 - Yeah, you realize, and people have just been so lovely

14:19 - and taking such great care of us, so it's just been really, really special.

14:22 - Yeah.

14:23 - The people that are great and

14:24 - and you know, a year ago we worked on this for the first time.

14:26 - And now to come back and play again, it's just been amazing.

14:29 - It's been a dream come true.

14:31 - Yeah.

14:32 - Today I was thinking about

14:33 - as we were driving to our last location here at The Sun in,

14:37 - I was thinking about how cool it is that we've gotten to do like,

14:41 - a tour of the places

14:45 - that make up this movie and this story.

14:48 - So it's been very, like, very rarely do you get to be like an actual place

14:51 - that the things you're talking about happen.

14:53 - So I think that was really cool.

14:54 - I grew up in the Redding area, so I never knew any of this happened.

14:58 - So to kind of second, when you said going on a tour kind of in my own backyard

15:02 - and seeing all these historical elements

15:04 - to a story that I didn't know existed has been really fun.

15:08 - It's been really interesting to

15:09 - to learn this story and learn more of the elements

15:11 - of something that happened, you know, from a place that I grew up in.

15:14 - Well, I'm from California originally.

15:17 - I grew up in California. And like

15:20 - the fact that we're talking about something that happened

15:22 - in the 18th and 19th century and just like

15:25 - kind of floored by because where I come from were impressive.

15:29 - Something built for like fashion, 1960, you know,

15:32 - so it's it's really, really cool to go back to,

15:36 - you know, a part of our country that has very, very deep roots.

15:41 - It's not a form that you really traditionally see a ton

15:45 - of being able to do both, like something so strongly historical and then also,

15:51 - you know, connected to people today and not just expecting

15:56 - it all make sense without kind of the bridge between the two.

15:59 - And also something like this largely historical being done

16:03 - by like in such a practical way with a small team without like crazy,

16:08 - crazy and a Hollywood money, a huge amount like amount of fact and.

16:13 - Yeah, and and and like.

16:15 - Yes. Yeah. Historical.

16:17 - This is an important thing to know about rebellion, peaceful protest.

16:22 - These are all important elements of things that are very important

16:26 - for the shape of our country today.

16:27 - On the eve of its 250th birthday.

16:30 - So I think it was very important to research, know where you came from,

16:37 - know accurately

16:38 - what this country represents and who the people are.

16:42 - And that's the most important thing you can take from this film.

16:45 - Also, that I think one thing that happens in this film is there's not really like

16:51 - a prescriptive way that anyone's trying to make you absorb it

16:55 - or some like, really specific idea that you're supposed to come away with.

17:00 - So it feels like a really cool opportunity to think a lot about your values

17:04 - and how that is aligned with the way

17:07 - the country and communities are run, and whether or not they're lining up

17:12 - and really thinking about what matters to you.

17:16 - I think because that's what's most important.

17:18 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

18:16 - I know you're upset, but what can we do to make you feel better?

18:20 - Move back to Cincinnati.

18:21 - You know, your dad had his job transferred here.

18:24 - Just so that I could take care of grandma.

18:26 - Please, just try to make the best of it, okay?

18:32 - I don't know anybody here or where anything is

18:35 - or I'm already supposed to do this local history report.

18:39 - How am I supposed to know the history of a place that I just moved to?

18:43 - I remember my granny saying that our ancestors

18:46 - came from Germany to this area in the 1730s.

18:49 - So there has to be something that you can dig up.

18:52 - Come on.

18:53 - Just try for me, okay?

19:22 - Hello.

19:22 - Welcome to the museum.

19:24 - Hi. Is Professor Schafer in?

19:26 - I believe he's waiting for you at the table.

19:27 - Okay. Thank you. Honey. Hey.

19:29 - Oh, good to see you, too. Yeah.

19:33 - Oh, Kayla, you remember your Uncle Steve?

19:37 - I am so glad that you guys are back in the country.

19:40 - Your mom tells me that you have a report to write on some local history.

19:43 - Am I right?

19:44 - I do, I don't really know where to begin, though.

19:47 - Well, well, for starters,

19:50 - this would be a good

19:51 - book for some local background information.

19:54 - Mom, you know I don't like writing big books like this.

19:57 - It's okay.

19:57 - Thank you. Steve.

20:00 - Kayla.

20:01 - You hungry?

20:04 - Perfect.

20:04 - Jenny, why don't I take it out for some lunch?

20:07 - I'll show you around the area a little bit

20:09 - and then we'll see if we can just tackle that report of yours.

20:12 - That sounds like a great idea.

20:15 - Here, sweetie.

20:17 - Just have fun.

20:35 - So what happened during the Fry's Rebellion?

20:38 - Well, it's pronounced freeze.

20:40 - No, this rebellion was a big part of our history.

20:43 - Kayla.

20:44 - It was named after John Freeze.

20:46 - He was an itinerant auctioneer.

20:48 - Local patriot.

20:50 - And actually, this was one of his meeting spots at the time.

20:54 - It was called Enoch Robert's tavern.

20:57 - Doctor Shafer is great to see you.

20:59 - Oh, hi, Dan.

21:00 - What a nice surprise.

21:02 - I'm taking my niece Kayla here on a tour of the area today.

21:05 - Nice to meet you.

21:07 - I was in Doctor Schaefer's history class last year.

21:09 - It was amazing.

21:12 - Thanks for turning me on in the history of this place.

21:14 - I've been working here part time for a while now.

21:16 - I love it.

21:17 - I'm very glad to hear.

21:18 - Do you have any further plans for school?

21:20 - I don't know exactly which direction I'm headed right now.

21:23 - But I did join the local historical society

21:25 - to learn more about the people who lived here before.

21:29 - Maybe you've been bitten by the history bug.

21:33 - What can I get for you?

21:34 - What would you like, Kayla?

21:36 - Iced tea, please.

21:38 - Anything to eat?

21:39 - Their chicken corn chowder is delicious.

21:43 - Freeze rice.

21:46 - Fries and an iced tea.

21:47 - You want that sweetened or unsweetened?

21:49 - Unsweetened. Is your sweet enough already?

21:55 - And for you?

21:58 - Well, I will have a bowl of the corn chowder.

22:02 - A glass of iced mint tea.

22:04 - I'll add the sugar.

22:09 - Thanks, dad.

22:12 - I'll grab your drinks.

22:24 - And add two and two.

22:33 - Whiskey.

22:35 - Whiskey.

22:37 - That was John Freeze's dog.

22:43 - Hey, Kayla.

22:45 - You okay?

22:48 - Yeah. Yeah.

22:49 - I'm. I'm. I'm fine.

22:52 - I just,

22:58 - Did you say.

23:06 - You know, when you answer.

23:11 - For some coming down there.

23:15 - I'm not sure I know what you're saying.

23:19 - I don't want your answer.

23:22 - We're going to.

23:31 - Have another.

23:42 - It look like he's seen a ghost.

23:48 - Maybe I have.

23:52 - Well, how about that turn out?

23:55 - How about that waiter?

23:58 - Okay, Steve.

24:03 - How are you doing?

24:05 - What did you see?

24:07 - I don't.

24:09 - I don't know if it was like being back in time.

24:13 - Like.

24:14 - Like.

24:15 - Like the streets were full of people yelling no house tax.

24:19 - And this.

24:19 - This tall guy kept people from getting hurt, and he said something

24:23 - about not obeying the law. And.

24:28 - I'm not sure, but it.

24:31 - Sure seemed real.

24:33 - Wow. I mean, it sounds like you witnessed this

24:37 - drunken mob scene where John Freeze was assisting the assessor.

24:42 - Everett folk.

24:44 - Folk was a Quaker.

24:45 - John had a really good relationship with him.

24:49 - After he escorted him back into the tavern,

24:51 - freeze pretended to look over these assessment papers.

24:55 - He just let him go with a warning to never come back,

24:58 - to assess.

25:02 - As anything like this

25:03 - ever happened to you before? No.

25:09 - I don't know.

25:10 - Not like this.

25:11 - It's like when your mom and I were kids.

25:15 - Our granny used to see things.

25:20 - She was a healer.

25:21 - She was, She was a pow wow doctor.

25:24 - And she would see these visions

25:27 - and these flashes of the past and the future and,

25:34 - maybe that's what's happening with you.

25:46 - All right, let's start back at the beginning.

25:49 - This is another tavern that I think you should know about, but it's,

25:54 - furniture store.

25:55 - Yeah, but in 1799, this was John Schwimmer's tavern.

25:59 - He was a successful farmer landlord, and he was justice of the peace.

26:04 - He actually, he lived right across the street.

26:16 - He did not fight.

26:18 - Don't bleed in there.

26:19 - Refusing simply to change the face of our tax collector.

26:24 - Yeah.

26:26 - Leave a tell this Congress that no harm

26:29 - in our lands will be assessed in this state.

26:32 - Tax law must be repealed.

26:35 - Yeah. How?

26:47 - Chemosynthesis is all that?

26:49 - He's in gory rats with the teeth.

26:51 - And I'm gonna beat you.

27:02 - What's an assessor?

27:05 - It's men hired by the new U.S.

27:07 - government to measure people's homes and properties,

27:09 - to determine how much they're going to be taxed.

27:12 - Now, Commissioner Aioli read the law in German here.

27:15 - So the townspeople then accused him and HEC Felder of being Tories.

27:20 - And then Jacob, George, David and John

27:24 - Schaefer decided that they were going to threaten to beat HEC Velvet.

27:27 - Luckily, the assessor and the commissioner, they escaped unharmed.

27:31 - What's the Tory?

27:33 - That's an American colonist who was in support

27:37 - of the British side of the revolution.

27:39 - Now, most English speaking assessors were either

27:42 - pacifist, Quaker or Moravian, so they did not fight in the Revolution.

27:46 - And why did they think the law was unfair?

27:49 - The German Lutherans and the Reformed Church people,

27:51 - or the church and loiter, were reacting to rapid societal change.

27:56 - So, a new tax to defend the new nation.

27:58 - Fear, bias, marginalization from being an ethnic minority.

28:02 - There was ideologies about liberty and freedom and just tons of misinformation.

28:08 - So, like, they had fake news back then too.

28:11 - Yeah, some things never change. Come on, let's keep moving.

28:17 - We're.

28:20 - So this was Peter Traxler Tavern in 1799.

28:23 - It looks so different now, but I have some still photos

28:28 - from 1890 and 1970.

28:31 - In January, Commissioner Islay had heard that two assessors had resigned,

28:36 - so associations had already been formed to resist

28:39 - assessment in Heidelberg, Linn and Low Hill townships.

28:43 - So Northampton County Judge William Henry subpoenaed the resistance leaders

28:46 - and directed them to come here and meet hourly at Peter

28:50 - Traxxas Tavern.

28:59 - I thought he might.

29:04 - I guess I'm has got some food.

29:07 - I know other.

29:12 - I can do for my.

29:19 - Caleb, what did you see?

29:20 - Yeah, there were a bunch of guys in uniforms riding horses

29:24 - to the tavern, and they weren't letting anybody inside.

29:27 - And then there was this guy inside the tavern talking to a man

29:30 - who was with the assessor, like he was trying to calm him down.

29:34 - That sounds like that was Henry Jarrett who was assuring Judge Henry

29:37 - that he would keep the crowds under control.

29:39 - Now, Jarrett had just been elected the justice of the Peace of Macungie

29:42 - and Eisenberg townships.

29:44 - Then, weeks later, Judge Henry sent completed depositions to Philadelphia,

29:48 - where they were given to US Marshal William Nichols,

29:51 - and as a result of that, House tax opponents were relabeled

29:55 - insurrectionists and considered traitors to this country.

29:58 - All right, let's get out of this. Right. Come on. Let's keep moving.

30:04 - Macungie or Miller's

30:05 - Town, as it was known back then, looked a lot different.

30:08 - In 1799, it was an unkempt village

30:12 - made of mostly log and frame houses,

30:15 - a muddy main road, and intersecting cattle paths.

30:19 - Do you see this brown building up here on our left at one West Main Street?

30:23 - Yeah.

30:23 - So that is where David Shafer lived.

30:26 - And his wife purportedly poured hot water

30:29 - and possibly the contents of her chamber pot onto the federal tax assessor's.

30:34 - Yeah.

30:35 - Once David was convicted of treason, he died in prison.

30:39 - She went ahead and she married Jacob Miller.

30:41 - Insurrection was then renamed to the Hot Water Rebellion

30:46 - because of Grandy millers and other housewives antics.

30:49 - That's pretty crazy,

30:52 - Uncle Steve. The light is green. Oh, yeah.

31:15 - Town destroyed by a fire.

31:18 - Oh, yeah.

31:20 - Sorry.

31:22 - Sorry.

31:24 - Nice.

31:25 - I know my neighbors been hurt. Nichols.

31:28 - But I only brought here that crash course.

31:31 - Oh. Ha ha ha ha ha.

31:36 - So, wanna.

31:41 - You want to come with me?

31:43 - I will not submit to.

31:44 - Not there myself.

31:45 - Here.

32:05 - Hey, they wanted to arrest somebody, but

32:10 - he wouldn't go. Yeah.

32:12 - U.S. Marshal William Nichols and the assessors ballot

32:15 - entirely attempted to serve a warrant for the arrest of tavern

32:19 - owner Henry Schenck Wheeler right here in Miller's town.

32:23 - Even though Henry Schenk rather wasn't arrested that day, he promised them

32:26 - that he'd meet them later so he could post bail. But

32:30 - the next day,

32:32 - Nichols and the assessors, they arrested 18 resisters and took him.

32:36 - At that point. Oh, yeah.

32:40 - Look.

32:49 - I like that tattoo.

32:51 - A special meeting behind it. Not.

32:56 - Not really, but.

32:59 - Well, I mean, I have seen that some barns have this design on them.

33:04 - What does that mean?

33:06 - Well, some people think that barn stars are just there for decoration.

33:11 - And there's another school of thought that they're put there as symbols

33:14 - for the sun and the stars and flowers and even blessings.

33:19 - But the rosette that you have on your hand

33:22 - was actually a very ancient symbol for protection.

33:27 - And it can be found in cultures all throughout Europe, Mediterranean,

33:30 - China.

33:31 - It goes by many names, but a recent one

33:34 - is the flower of life.

33:38 - That's so cool.

33:41 - You've been rubbing it too.

33:43 - How come?

33:46 - This.

33:47 - This might sound weird, but

33:51 - whenever I see it on a barn or whatever.

33:57 - It's part of my hand.

33:57 - Just kind of tingles a bit.

34:00 - I call that resonance.

34:10 - Gonna pass around?

34:12 - I'm gonna

34:14 - the head of God kind of guy.

34:19 - And and

34:21 - what's going on?

34:21 - Caleb?

34:23 - I went back in time again, and I.

34:28 - I saw a bunch of people yelling no window tax at these two men.

34:32 - They were assessors.

34:34 - What's window tax?

34:35 - The property tax assessment was based on the house,

34:39 - the land and the number of enslaved people.

34:41 - But some assessors, not all, but some would even go so far

34:45 - as to count the number of windows and window panes in the building.

34:48 - Now, this increased the value of the home because window glass was expensive.

34:53 - But there's also cause confusion as to just what exactly was being taxed,

34:56 - especially windows.

34:58 - So sometimes it is called the window Tax rebellion. We

35:03 - folks actually enslaved people here.

35:06 - Well, generally the Pennsylvania Germans and the Quakers were opposed to slavery.

35:12 - And earlier on they'd even adopted a law to abolish slavery.

35:15 - However,

35:17 - white indentured servants from Europe most likely weren't considered slaves.

35:22 - We white people were enslaved here.

35:24 - Indentured servants were people who worked under contract for other people,

35:29 - usually for up to seven years with no money,

35:32 - but in exchange for a free passage to America.

35:35 - Over half of European immigrants to colonial America arrived

35:39 - as indentured servants.

35:53 - Why? Bethlehem?

35:55 - Well, after Colonel Nicholls took his prisoners to the Sun Inn

35:59 - in Bethlehem, where Judge Henry and other officials were staying,

36:03 - the rebels decided that now is the time to march in,

36:07 - go to Bethlehem and release the prisoners.

36:10 - Colonel Nicholls had heard that there was going to be a planned rescue,

36:15 - but he wasn't authorized to use armed force.

36:20 - So what he did was he summoned

36:23 - a civilian posse of 18 men for protection,

36:26 - and they moved the prisoners to rooms upstairs.

36:29 - But in a weird turn of events, the prisoners started

36:32 - saying, wait a minute, we don't want to be rescued.

36:35 - So this small committee rode out to the insurrectionists to warn them

36:39 - that they would be breaking the law if they did indeed free these prisoners.

36:50 - So John frees, with two companies of riflemen,

36:54 - and one of mounted men, marched right up this main street to the Senate,

36:59 - then frees and two of his men stormed into the tavern

37:02 - and demanded that Nicholls release the prisoners.

37:04 - Of course, he said, no.

37:21 - I need my men freed

37:23 - from side.

37:24 - This is going to go for for

37:27 - taking it from down the town.

37:40 - And. There.

37:52 - Now the law gave out all.

38:02 - Bustles of booze and free

38:05 - release. Foreign men.

38:06 - I cannot stop you.

38:09 - But you.

38:10 - You are breaking the law.

38:17 - Now. Have.

38:25 - You got to go.

38:27 - There.

38:28 - What you see?

38:32 - That was really frightening.

38:35 - I honestly thought that they were going to get killed.

38:39 - After hours of failed negotiations and threats, the insurgents

38:43 - quickly grabbed the prisoners and quietly left, thinking they had won.

38:47 - Did the rebels really win?

38:49 - Well, that's a good question.

38:50 - So once the rebels returned home and were able to take some time to

38:55 - cool down and think about the legal implications of what they had done,

39:00 - they quietly stopped their objection to the House tax law.

39:04 - And then a week later, 200 people from three different counties met,

39:08 - and they were there to evaluate their next steps.

39:11 - And John Freeze did not attend this meeting.

39:14 - Instead, he acquiesced to the peaceable measures of others

39:19 - and well, finally became a model citizen just at the end of the rebellion.

39:24 - Unfortunately, no, President John Adams, a few days earlier, on March 12th,

39:29 - had released a proclamation in response to the armed interference,

39:34 - and he basically issued an ultimatum and a way for the militia

39:39 - and federal troops to make arrests of all the insurgents.

39:42 - John Freeze was standing on a cider barrel, calling an auction

39:45 - on April 5th when he heard the oncoming cavalry.

39:49 - He was able to hop down, and he ran away and hid in the nearby woods.

39:53 - So all the federal troops are looking for him, and eventually

39:56 - they were led to his hiding place in a brier patch by freeze.

39:59 - His own dog, Whiskey Freeze, was arrested and sent to prison in Philadelphia,

40:05 - and then a week later, local residents were astonished

40:08 - when they saw Major Ford march his men up

40:12 - the Redding Allentown Road to rendezvous with Brigadier General William McPherson.

40:18 - To make an even stronger impression, general McPherson

40:21 - ordered a parade of a thousand troops to march in tiny Miller's town,

40:26 - so federal troops arrived on April 10th,

40:29 - and they encamped in Schafer's Woods for about a week or so.

40:32 - But several federal officers were absolutely appalled

40:36 - at the way that the troops were treating the townspeople.

40:38 - Many men were forced to wear irons, and they were whipped and terrorized.

40:44 - Here, the homes of rebels Adam Stephan

40:48 - and Revolutionary War veteran Michael Meyer,

40:50 - who, with his neighbor Adam, fought with the Rangers in the frontiers.

40:55 - Now, unfortunately, Michael Meyer and rebels David Schaefer

41:00 - and Philip Dash died of yellow fever while serving convictions

41:03 - for treason in a Norristown prison.

41:06 - Yellow fever?

41:08 - Yeah.

41:09 - 10% of Philadelphia's population died when French colonial refugees,

41:13 - slaves and mosquitoes carried the virus from Haiti to the port of Philadelphia.

41:25 - What are we doing here?

41:27 - This was the home of Jacob Schafer, one of the rebels.

41:30 - It's an old farmstead that he inherited from his grandfather,

41:33 - Johann Georg Schafer.

41:36 - I think I've done so much new construction

41:39 - around here.

41:58 - Jaco.

42:12 - Doc, leave a motor.

42:22 - My sweetheart.

42:24 - My name.

42:29 - Neighborhood fight night.

42:40 - Just baby

42:41 - cooked. Up.

42:54 - Oh, hey. Hey.

43:13 - We're straight on.

43:15 - I'm not here.

43:16 - Yeah. Not here. Baby I'm sorry.

43:19 - Baby.

43:24 - Picture to Tobias.

43:26 - It's a picture to him.

43:29 - I see.

43:34 - To him, it's about.

43:36 - It's. His.

43:46 - Please don't hurt Jacob.

43:49 - Please.

43:51 - Please.

43:55 - Kayla, are you okay? Oh.

44:00 - He got away before the soldiers came.

44:02 - They were so mean.

44:03 - They were ransacking the house and the barn.

44:05 - And his.

44:06 - His wife looked just like me having a baby.

44:09 - It was.

44:11 - It was terrible.

44:15 - Wait,

44:16 - did you say that his name was Jacob Schaefer?

44:20 - Are we related to him?

44:22 - We are.

44:24 - You see, Kayla, you weren't just learning the history of this place.

44:27 - You were learning the history of our family.

44:31 - So what happened to Jacob Schaefer?

44:34 - He fled to the nearby woods,

44:37 - where he continued to avoid federal troops until President John Adams

44:41 - changed his mind and decided to pardon everyone involved in the rebellion.

44:45 - Kayla Jacob survived,

44:48 - and later on he served as a colonel in the War of 1812.

44:53 - Why did the president decide to pardon them all?

44:56 - After the arrests were made, the rebels were tried and sentenced.

44:59 - President Adams decided that John Freeze and the rebels,

45:03 - they had no intention of starting a war or overthrowing the government.

45:08 - He thought that they were only guilty

45:09 - of starting riots and trying to rescue the prisoner.

45:11 - So he let them go.

45:13 - And of course, he was up for reelection in 1800.

45:15 - So maybe he thought that if he let go of the rebels,

45:18 - he would get a few more votes in Pennsylvania. But.

45:23 - The Kakamega,

45:25 - they soon wouldn't forget the events of the past few years.

45:28 - So he lost.

45:29 - Did John Adams and the Federalists,

45:32 - who wanted a more central government with a standing army,

45:36 - lost to Thomas Jefferson's Republicans, who wanted a strong local government?

45:41 - How? I just

45:44 - never thought that the story would be about my own family.

45:49 - Just look around and if you have any questions, come back and ask me, okay.

45:53 - Thank you.

45:57 - Well, hello.

45:57 - You too. How is your tour?

45:59 - This is really cool.

46:01 - Actually, I learned a lot, guys.

46:03 - Now, Kayla, a young man, a nice young man stopped by with this for you.

46:06 - He left it at the Red lion in.

46:08 - Oh, I thought you were supposed to be taking notes.

46:11 - Thinks he's going to be just fine.

46:14 - Oh, I think that's my mom.

46:18 - I can't wait to tell her all about Jacob Schaefer.

46:22 - Oh, thank you, Uncle Steve.

46:26 - I. I really couldn't have done this without you.

46:28 - It was my pleasure.

46:31 - And I can't wait to read this finished report of yours.

46:34 - And tell your mom I want to see you again real soon.

46:37 - I, I cannot.

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