Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments to the Constitution

The Sixteenth Amendment, the right of the federal government to enact an income tax, was a long time coming. The first income tax was enacted in 1894, but this was quickly struck down by the Supreme Court. Due to low prices for agricultural goods and high prices for industrial goods, farmers had lobbied for such a tax since the Civil War, and the Democratic Party was behind this movement at the turn of the century. Conservatives in 1909 wanted once and for all prove the impossibility of such a measure, and so they went a step further than the progressives who wanted to add a income tax provision to a tariff bill and offered that it be made a constitutional amendment, believing that such a piece of legislation would never be ratified. But to their shock, the amendment was passed by over three-fourths of the state legislatures, and it was passed by Congress July 2, 1909. The Sixteenth Amendment took effect February 25, 1913, and has been considered one of the most important pieces of legislation in American history.

Originally, senators were elected by state legislatures. In the nineteenth century, however, extended vacancies, differences and discrepancies in the ways states elected their senators, and cases of bribery and other dishonest political methods were signs for need of reform. After the turn of the century, the state of Oregon pioneered a method of identifying the public's choice of senators using the state's primary election. Though many states adopted this process, it eventually became clear that only a constitutional amendment would solve the problems that arise from the state's election of senators. The Seventeenth Amendment was passed in 1912 and was ratified only a few months after the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913.


Divine, Robert A., T. H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, and R. Hal Williams. America Past and Present. Revised Sixth Edition, AP* Edition . Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 2003. 687. Print.

The 16th Amendment, March 15, 1913; Ratified Amendments, 1795-1992; General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives.

Joint Resolution proposing 17th amendment, 1913. Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789-. General Records of the U.S. Government, Record Group 11, National Archives

"Direct Election of Senators." U.S. Senate. U.S. Senate, n.d. Web. 2 Feb 2011. <http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Direct_Election_Senators.htm>.