In the thread about the decline of whale oil usage it is mentioned that taxes on alcohol used for illumination made it not competitive with coal oil and petroleum products. Were these taxes created in a direct effort to bolster the burgeoning petroleum industry?
Not at all, it was part of a larger series of taxes meant to raise funds for the Union in the Civil War.
The previous year for instance had seen the nation's first income tax, while the expanding scale of the war made it clear even more sources of revenue would be required.
A large swath of daily items from booze to newspapers were taxed, so it is not that alcohol was singled out. It was simply an attractive source of revenue for a government fighting a desperate civil war.