A Level History - America - Practice Exam

What was the Whiskey Ring?

1. A scheme to increase taxes on whiskey sales

2. A group of politicians defending whiskey distillers

3. A scandal involving bribery of officials by distillers

4. A movement to prohibit whiskey production

The correct answer is: A scandal involving bribery of officials by distillers

The Whiskey Ring was a scandal that surfaced during the Ulysses S. Grant administration in the 1870s, characterized by a conspiracy involving bribery and fraud. Distillers and government officials colluded to evade federal taxes on whiskey, leading to significant losses in revenue for the federal government. The distillers would bribe these officials to overlook tax collections, essentially allowing them to profit illegally while undermining the government's efforts to regulate the industry. This context is critical in understanding why this option is correct; it emphasizes the nature of the activity as a corruption scheme rather than simply a movement or a legal adjustment related to taxation or production. The other options, while touching on related themes such as taxation or defense of distillers, do not accurately capture the essence of the Whiskey Ring scandal, which was fundamentally about the collusion and bribery that aimed to subvert the tax system.