Herman Husband

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Herman Husband (1724–1795) (also known as Harmon Husband) was a farmer, radical, pamphleteer, and preacher. He was born in Maryland and raised as an Anglican. One of the many to be inspired to the Great Awakening after hearing George Whitefield preach he became disenchanted with his original faith and became a "New Light" Presbyterian and then a Quaker. Moving to North Carolina he established himself as a farmer and religious leader. He was asked to leave the Quaker Meeting and he did so but continued to follow many of their tenets including strict pacifism. Philosophically he was drawn to the wisdom of Ben Franklin.

In the 1760s he was involved in the resistance to the corrupt practices of predatory government officials- mainly the lawyers and judges. He was elected to the colony's assembly and spoke out against governmental abuses. His story is reminiscent of that of John Wilkes. He was jailed for speaking out and then set loose when an angry mob of armed backwoods farmers was coming to free him. The resisters organized and began calling themselves "Regulators" because they wanted to regulate the government, that is- to force it to obey the laws. Thus the movement is known as the Regulator Rebellion. Mob action was taken to prevent the worst abuses of the courts.

Husband always denied he was a Regulator, and indeed, as a pacifist he wouldn't take part in violence or threats of violence. But he was a spokesman and a symbol for the resistance. He had several tracts printed the best known being "Shew Yourselves to be Freemen" (1769),"An Impartial Relation of the First and Causes of the Recent Differences in Public Affairs" (1770), and "A Fan For Fanning And A Touchstone For Tryon" (1771). In 1770, Husband was expelled from the state legislature, ostensibly for libel but most likely due to his affiliation with the Regulators. After the "rebellion" was crushed at the Battle of Alamance (May 16, 1771), Husband fled to Maryland under the name "Tuscape Death" and later called himself "Old Quaker". He only openly reclaimed his own name after the American Revolution.

Husband continued his journeys both physical and metaphysical eventually settling in Somerset (Somerset County) in Western Pennsylvania and becoming a millennial preacher as well as a political reformer. He called for progressive taxation, paper money, and, as a proponent of greater participation of common people in government as well as in religion, more democracy. In 1782 he released a pamphlet entitled "Proposals to Amend and Perfect the Policy of the Government of the United States of America" where he argued in favor of smaller legislative districts and legislatures for each county in order to maximize the influence of voters. For the first federal elections in 1788 Husband argued in favor of electing congressmen in districts instead of by the statewide method that was used.

His outspoken nature and reputation for radicalism drew him into the poorly named "Whiskey Rebellion" (1794) where he served as a delegate to the Parkinson's Ferry and Redstone meetings attempting to moderate the violent resistance to the burdensome and hated tax on whiskey. He is also associated with the raising of a liberty pole at Brunerstown (Somerset was previously known as Brunerstown) Square adorned with an ensign proclaiming "Liberty and No Excise". When federal troops marched over the Allegheny Mountains ostensibly to put down the revolt they found no rioters but a lack of provisions which led to theft from local farmers and the ignominious name of the "Watermelon Army". The federal forces rounded up suspects including Husband who was specifically sought after. The detainees were held in miserable conditions and then marched back east for trial. At age 73 Herman Husband's constitution didn't fare well under these circumstances. He was held in Philadelphia for eight months before charges were dropped and died of illness on his way home in June, 1795.