Colonel Edward Cook
Rostraver Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Settling here in the 1770s, Cook became a prominent landholder, jurist, and politician. He was a member of the Provincial Congress in Philadelphia in 1776 and served at the State Constitutional Convention. Although a moderate during the Whiskey Rebellion, 1792-94, he joined the tax protesters and was elected chairman of several key rebel meetings.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Edward Cook came to this corner of western Pennsylvania in the 1770s and rose to become one of its leading citizens — a large landholder, judge, and politician who sat in the Provincial Congress at Philadelphia in 1776 and helped shape the state's constitution. Though a moderate by temperament, when the Whiskey Rebellion swept the frontier in 1792–94 he cast his lot with the tax protesters and was chosen to chair several key rebel meetings.
Why it matters
Cook's life bridges two founding struggles — the Revolution that created the nation and the frontier uprising that tested it — showing how the same men who built the republic sometimes chafed against its new demands.
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Related people
- · Edward Cook
Related events
- · Whiskey Rebellion, 1792–1794
Themes & tags
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