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Library of Congress Research Guides

16th Amendment: Topics in Chronicling America

A guide for researching the topic of 16th Amendment, which originated the personal income tax, in the Chronicling America digital collection of historic newspapers.

Introduction

"Income Tax is held valid by United States Supreme Court" January 25, 1916. Albuquerque Morning Journal (Albuquerque, NM), Image 1. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.

Death and taxes! The origin of the modern income tax began with ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment authorized Congress to institute a graduated income tax on the earnings of American workers. This power thus enabled the passage of the Revenue Act of 1913. Read more about it!

The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.

The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.

Timeline

June 17, 1909 United States Senator Norris Brown of Nebraska proposed the Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
1909-1913 State legislatures across the U.S. begin to ratify the amendment.
February 3, 1913 Wyoming becomes the last of the three-fourths states needed to ratify the Sixteenth Amendment, which officially enables Congress to legally act on a permanent income tax.
September 23,1915 Stockholders file a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, which argues the Sixteenth Amendment covers “many taxes other than on income.
January 24, 1916 The Supreme Court declares the income tax is constitutional by the Sixteenth Amendment.
March 8, 1920 The Supreme Court says stock dividends are “not taxable under the 1916 income tax law”.
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