16C1

Sixteenth Amendment


Essential Question: How do the issues which prompted the creation of the amendments compare with the issues they are applied to today?

Amendment in seventh grade language: The government can collect taxes from all the people for the goods of the USA. (Maria)


1. When was this amendment passed and ratified? (Sebastian)
This amendment was passed on July 2nd 1909 and it was ratified on February 3, 1913. (ourdocuments.gov)

2. Why was this amendment passed? (Sebastian)
This amendment was passed to collect taxes from people on goods so that the USA could be funded for problems such as war and to support government jobs. This amendment made it so the government would collect a small portion of a civilian's salary. -(constitutioncenter.org)

3. Who were the people that wrote and created this amendment? (Sebastian)
William Taft was the 27th president of the United States wrote this amendment and Congress passed this amendment. (ourdocuments.gov)

4. What states didn't approve of this amendment? (Sebastian)
At this time there were 42 states, 36 of these states approved but the other 6 did not. Kentucky, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Vermont and Massachusetts all did not support this amendment. (givemelitberty.org)

5. Where was this amendment passed? (Sebastian)
This amendment was passed in the capital building of Washington D.C, Virginia. (Google text box)

6. How did the amendment affect the states? (Maria)

The sixteenth amendment affected the states because "upon America's entry into the war, the need for the income tax was immediately realized, for without it, the financing of the war would have been difficult." (Milestone documents)

7. How did people feel about this amendment? (Maria)

People felt happy about this amendment passing and being ratified. "The desire of Americans to pass an income tax on the rich was strong in 1909, when president William Taft proposed a 2% of big businesses known as corporations." (kids.laws.com)

8. Did all people agree with this amendment?

No, not all people agreed with this amendment. In fact, there were about 6 states that did not want this amendment at all.

9. Did Congress tax some states more than other? (Maria)

Congress taxed bigger states more than other states because of the population. "For example, if a state like Pennsylvania has five times the number of people as the state of Delaware, then Pennsylvania would have to pay five times as much as tax." (study.com)

10. Why was the 16th amendment so important? (Maria)

The 16th amendment was so important because income tax allowed the federal government to build better roads and bridges, keep an army, enforce laws, and carry out other important duties.

Fun Facts: (Maria)

1. Americans first began paying federal taxes during the Civil War.
2. The system was actually pretty unfair.
3. When the sixteenth amendment was adopted, the federal government was given more political power to set up the current form of taxation.
4. "When the amendment became a law in 1913, it clashed with a previous judicial decision in 1895 where the Supreme Court justices ruled that direct taxes were illegal. However, since the amendment was adopted, it was overturned.