United States Reports
The United States Reports are the official record of the rulings, case tables, in alphabetical order both by the name of the petitioner and by the name of the respondent, other proceedings of the Supreme Court of the United States. United States Reports, once printed and bound, are the final version of court opinions and cannot be changed. Opinions of the court in each case are prepended with a headnote prepared by the Reporter of Decisions, any concurring or dissenting opinions are published sequentially; the Court's Publication Office oversees the binding and publication of the volumes of United States Reports, although the actual printing and publication are performed by private firms under contract with the United States Government Publishing Office. For lawyers, citations to United States Reports are the standard reference for Supreme Court decisions. Following The Bluebook, a accepted citation protocol, the case Brown, et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, for example, would be cited as: Brown v. Bd. of Educ.
347 U. S. 483. This citation indicates that the decision of the Court in the case entitled Brown v. Board of Education, as abbreviated in Bluebook style, was decided in 1954 and can be found in volume 347 of the United States Reports starting on page 483; the early volumes of the United States Reports were published by the individual Supreme Court Reporters. As was the practice in England, the reports were designated by the names of the reporters who compiled them: Dallas's Reports, Cranch's Reports, etc; the decisions appearing in the entire first volume and most of the second volume of United States Reports are not decisions of the United States Supreme Court. Instead, they are decisions from various Pennsylvania courts, dating from the colonial period and the first decade after Independence. Alexander Dallas, a lawyer and journalist, of Philadelphia, had been in the business of reporting these cases for newspapers and periodicals, he subsequently began compiling his case reports in a bound volume, which he called Reports of cases ruled and adjudged in the courts of Pennsylvania and since the Revolution.
This would come to be known as the first volume of Dallas Reports. When the United States Supreme Court, along with the rest of the new Federal Government moved, in 1791, from New York City to the nation's temporary capital in Philadelphia, Dallas was appointed the Supreme Court's first unofficial, unpaid, Supreme Court Reporter. Dallas continued to publish Pennsylvania decisions in a second volume of his Reports; when the Supreme Court began hearing cases, he added those cases to his reports, starting towards the end of the second volume, 2 Dallas Reports, with West v. Barnes. Dallas went on to publish a total of four volumes of decisions during his tenure as Reporter; when the Supreme Court moved to Washington, D. C. in 1800, Dallas remained in Philadelphia, William Cranch took over as unofficial reporter of decisions. In 1817, Congress made the Reporter of Decisions an official, salaried position, although the publication of the Reports remained a private enterprise for the reporter's personal gain.
The reports themselves were the subject of an early copyright case, Wheaton v. Peters, in which former reporter Henry Wheaton sued current reporter Richard Peters for reprinting cases from Wheaton's Reports in abridged form. In 1874, the U. S. government began creating the United States Reports. The earlier, private reports were retroactively numbered volumes 1–90 of the United States Reports, starting from the first volume of Dallas Reports. Therefore, decisions appearing in these early reports have dual citation forms: one for the volume number of the United States Reports. For example, the complete citation to McCulloch v. Maryland is 17 U. S. 316. Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States Lists of United States Supreme Court cases by volume National Reporter System United States Supreme Court: Information About Opinions United States Supreme Court: Bound Volumes – Lists of PDFs Torrents of United States Reports 502–550
Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution allows Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states on the basis of population. It was passed by Congress in 1909 in response to the 1895 Supreme Court case of Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co; the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified by the requisite number of states on February 3, 1913, overruled the Supreme Court's ruling in Pollock. Prior to the early 20th century, most federal revenue came from tariffs rather than taxes, although Congress had imposed excise taxes on various goods; the Revenue Act of 1861 had introduced the first federal income tax, but that tax was repealed in 1872. During the late nineteenth century, various groups, including the Populist Party, favored the establishment of a progressive income tax at the federal level; these groups believed that tariffs unfairly taxed the poor, they favored using the income tax to shift the tax burden onto wealthier individuals. The 1894 Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act contained an income tax provision, but the tax was struck down by the Supreme Court in the case of Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court did not hold that all federal income taxes were unconstitutional, but rather held that income taxes on rents and interest were direct taxes and thus had to be apportioned among the states on the basis of population. For several years after Pollock, Congress did not attempt to implement another income tax due to concerns that the Supreme Court would strike down any attempt to levy an income tax. In 1909, during the debate over the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act, Congress proposed the Sixteenth Amendment to the states. Though conservative Republican leaders had expected that the amendment would not be ratified, a coalition of Democrats, progressive Republicans, other groups ensured that the necessary number of states ratified the amendment. Shortly after the amendment was ratified, Congress imposed a federal income tax with the Revenue Act of 1913; the Supreme Court upheld that income tax in the 1916 case of Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co. and the federal government has continued to levy an income tax since 1913.
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, without regard to any census or enumeration. Article I, Section 2, Clause 3: Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers... Article I, Section 8, Clause 1: The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States. Article I, Section 9, Clause 4: No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken; this clause refers to a tax on property, such as a tax based on the value of land, as well as a capitation. Article I, Section 9, Clause 5: No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State; until 1913, customs duties and excise taxes were the primary sources of federal revenue.
During the War of 1812, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander J. Dallas made the first public proposal for an income tax, but it was never implemented; the Congress did introduce an income tax to fund the Civil War through the Revenue Act of 1861. It levied a flat tax of three percent on annual income above $800; this act was replaced the following year with the Revenue Act of 1862, which levied a graduated tax of three to five percent on income above $600 and specified a termination of income taxation in 1866. The Civil War income taxes, which expired in 1872, proved to be both lucrative and drawing from the more industrialized states, with New York and Massachusetts generating about 60 percent of the total revenue, collected. During the two decades following the expiration of the Civil War income tax, the Greenback movement, the Labor Reform Party, the Populist Party, the Democratic Party and many others called for a graduated income tax; the Socialist Labor Party advocated a graduated income tax in 1887.
The Populist Party "demand a graduated income tax" in its 1892 platform. The Democratic Party, led by William Jennings Bryan, advocated the income tax law passed in 1894, proposed an income tax in its 1908 platform. Proponents of the income tax believed that high tariff rates exacerbated income inequality, wanted to use the income tax to shift the burden of funding the government away from working class consumers and to high-earning businessmen. Before Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. all income taxes had been considered to be indirect taxes imposed without respect to geography, unlike direct taxes, that have to be apportioned among the states according to population. In 1894, an amendment was attached to the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act that attempted to impose a federal tax of two percent on incomes over $4,000; the federal income tax was favored in the South, it was moderately supported in the eastern North Central states, but it was opposed in the Far West and the Northeastern States. The tax was derided as "un-Democratic and wrong in principle".
In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. the U. S. Supreme Court declared certain taxes on incomes – such as those on property under the 1894 Act – to be unconstitutionally unapportioned direct taxes; the Court reasoned that a tax on income from property should be treated as a tax on "property by
William Lyne Wilson
William Lyne Wilson was an American politician and lawyer from West Virginia. A Bourbon Democrat, Wilson was elected to the United States Congress in 1882 and served six terms of office, ending in 1895. Following his departure from the House of Representatives, Wilson was appointed Postmaster General of the United States by President Grover Cleveland, remaining in that cabinet-level position until 1897. After leaving government service Wilson was named President of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. William Lyne Wilson was born in Charles Town, Virginia on May 3, 1843, he attended Charles Town Academy, graduated from Columbian College, today part of George Washington University, from which he graduated in 1860. He subsequently studied at the University of Virginia. During the Civil War, he enlisted in the Confederate Army and served as a private in the 12th Virginia Cavalry. After the war, Wilson for several years, he taught school at Columbian College during which he graduated from law school.
He opened a private practice in Charles Town. He was chosen as president of West Virginia University, taking office on September 4, 1882, he married the daughter of Rev. A. J. Huntington, D. D. professor of Greek in Columbian University. Wilson was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1880, he was elected a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives shortly afterwards and won reelection five times afterwards, serving from 1883 to 1895. He served as chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means from 1893 to 1895 during which he co-authored the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act which reduced the United States tariff rates from the numbers set by the McKinley Tariff of 1890. After leaving Congress, Wilson was appointed Postmaster General in the cabinet of President Grover Cleveland and served from 1895 to 1897. During that time, future Secretary of War Newton D. Baker served as his private secretary. In 1896, he broke party lines by opposing the Free Silver Movement led by Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan and, like many Bourbon Democrats, backed the National Democratic candidate John McAuley Palmer who supported the traditional gold standard, limited government and opposed protectionism.
After leaving office as Postmaster General, Wilson served as president of Washington and Lee University. Wilson died in Lexington, Virginia, on October 17, 1900 and was interred in Edgehill Cemetery in Charles Town. A portion of U. S. Route 340 between Harpers Ferry and Charles Town, West Virginia, is designated the William L. Wilson Freeway in his honor. Pensions Appropriation Bill: Speech of Hon. William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, in the House of Representatives, March 2, 1886. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1886; the Tariff: Speech of Hon. William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, in the House of Representatives, May 3, 1888. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1888; the National Democratic Party: Its History, Principles and Aims. Baltimore, MD: H. L. Harvey and Co. 1888. The New Trial of Popular Government: An Address Delivered before the Society of the Alumni of the University of Virginia, on Commencement Day, June 1, 1891. Charlottesville, VA, C. M. Brand, 1891. Duties on Wool and Woolen Goods: Speech of Hon. William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, in the House of Representatives, April 7, 1892.
Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1892. "The Man, or The Platform?" North American Review, vol. 154, whole no. 426, pp. 525–529. "The Tariff Plank at Chicago," North American Review, vol. 155, pp. 280–286. "The Income Tax on Corporations," North American Review, vol. 158, whole no. 446, pp. 1–7. The Tariff: Speech of Hon. William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, in the House of Representatives and Tuesday, January 8 and 9, 1894. Washington, DC: Capital Publishing Co. 1894. Tariff Reform: Speeches of Hon. Charles F. Crisp, of Georgia, Hon. William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, in the House of Representatives, February 1, 1894. With Charles F. Crisp. Washington, DC: Hartman and Cadick, 1894. Speech of Hon. William L. Wilson Before the Young Men's Democratic Association at Pa.. January 8th,1895: "Moderate and Just Taxation is the Best Achievement of Legislative Action." Boston, MA: New England Free Trade League, 1895. The Inauguration of William Lyne Wilson, LL. D. as President of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.
September 15, 1897. Lynchburg, VA: J. P. Bell Co. 1897. "The Founders of States and the Founders of Colleges," University Record, vol. 3, no. 15, pp. 85–90. The Cabinet Diary of William L. Wilson, 1896-1897. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1957. A Borderland Confederate. Festus P. Summers Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1962. James A. Quarles, "William Lyne Wilson," Sewanee Review, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 41–56. Festus P. Summers, William L. Wilson and Tariff Reform. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953. "William L. Wilson: Royally Received and El Paso and Fort Bliss," Galveston Daily News, vol. 52, no. 333, pg. 6. Beach, Chandler B. ed.. "Wilson, William Lyne". The New Student's Reference Work. Chicago: F. E. Compton and Co
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was an American politician and lawyer, the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, the only president in American history to serve two non-consecutive terms in office. He won the popular vote for three presidential elections—in 1884, 1888, 1892—and was one of two Democrats to be elected president during the era of Republican political domination dating from 1861 to 1933. Cleveland was the leader of the pro-business Bourbon Democrats who opposed high tariffs, Free Silver, inflation and subsidies to business, farmers, or veterans, his crusade for political reform and fiscal conservatism made him an icon for American conservatives of the era. Cleveland won praise for his honesty, self-reliance and commitment to the principles of classical liberalism, he fought political corruption and bossism. As a reformer, Cleveland had such prestige that the like-minded wing of the Republican Party, called "Mugwumps" bolted the GOP presidential ticket and swung to his support in the 1884 election.
As his second administration began, disaster hit the nation when the Panic of 1893 produced a severe national depression, which Cleveland was unable to reverse. It ruined his Democratic Party, opening the way for a Republican landslide in 1894 and for the agrarian and silverite seizure of the Democratic Party in 1896; the result was a political realignment that ended the Third Party System and launched the Fourth Party System and the Progressive Era. Cleveland was a formidable policymaker, he drew corresponding criticism, his intervention in the Pullman Strike of 1894 to keep the railroads moving angered labor unions nationwide in addition to the party in Illinois. Critics complained that Cleveland had little imagination and seemed overwhelmed by the nation's economic disasters—depressions and strikes—in his second term. So, his reputation for probity and good character survived the troubles of his second term. Biographer Allan Nevins wrote, "n Grover Cleveland, the greatness lies in typical rather than unusual qualities.
He had no endowments. He possessed honesty, firmness and common sense, but he possessed them to a degree other men do not." By the end of his second term, public perception showed him to be one of the most unpopular U. S. presidents, he was by rejected by most Democrats. Today, Cleveland is considered by most historians to have been a successful leader ranked among the upper-mid tier of American presidents. Stephen Grover Cleveland was born on March 18, 1837, in Caldwell, New Jersey, to Ann and Richard Falley Cleveland. Cleveland's father was a Congregational and Presbyterian minister, from Connecticut, his mother was the daughter of a bookseller. On his father's side, Cleveland was descended from English ancestors, the first of the family having emigrated to Massachusetts from Cleveland, England in 1635, his father's maternal grandfather, Richard Falley Jr. fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill, was the son of an immigrant from Guernsey. On his mother's side, Cleveland was descended from Anglo-Irish Protestants and German Quakers from Philadelphia.
Cleveland was distantly related to General Moses Cleaveland, after whom the city of Cleveland, was named. Cleveland, the fifth of nine children, was named Stephen Grover in honor of the first pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Caldwell, where his father was pastor at the time, he became known as Grover in his adult life. In 1841, the Cleveland family moved to Fayetteville, New York, where Grover spent much of his childhood. Neighbors described him as "full of fun and inclined to play pranks," and fond of outdoor sports. In 1850, Cleveland's father moved to Clinton, New York, to work as district secretary for the American Home Missionary Society. Despite his father's dedication to his missionary work, the income was insufficient for the large family. Financial conditions forced him to remove Grover from school into a two-year mercantile apprenticeship in Fayetteville; the experience was valuable and brief, the living conditions quite austere. Grover returned to his schooling at the completion of the apprentice contract.
In 1853, when missionary work began to take a toll on his health, Cleveland's father took an assignment in Holland Patent, New York and the family moved again. Shortly after, he died from a gastric ulcer, with Grover reputedly hearing of his father's death from a boy selling newspapers. Cleveland received his elementary education at the Fayetteville Academy and the Clinton Liberal Academy. After his father died in 1853, he again left school to help support his family; that year, Cleveland's brother William was hired as a teacher at the New York Institute for the Blind in New York City, William obtained a place for Cleveland as an assistant teacher. He returned home to Holland Patent at the end of 1854, where an elder in his church offered to pay for his college education if he would promise to become a minister. Cleveland declined, in 1855 he decided to move west, he stopped first in New York, where his uncle, Lewis F. Allen, gave him a clerical job. Allen was an important man in Buffalo, he introduced his nephew to influential men there, including the partners in the law firm of Rogers and Rogers.
Millard Fillmore, the 13th president of the United States, had worked for the partnership. Cleveland took a clerkship with the firm, began to read the law, was admitted to the New York bar in 1859. Cleveland
International Standard Serial Number
An International Standard Serial Number is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication, such as a magazine. The ISSN is helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSN are used in ordering, interlibrary loans, other practices in connection with serial literature; the ISSN system was first drafted as an International Organization for Standardization international standard in 1971 and published as ISO 3297 in 1975. ISO subcommittee TC 46/SC 9 is responsible for maintaining the standard; when a serial with the same content is published in more than one media type, a different ISSN is assigned to each media type. For example, many serials are published both in electronic media; the ISSN system refers to these types as electronic ISSN, respectively. Conversely, as defined in ISO 3297:2007, every serial in the ISSN system is assigned a linking ISSN the same as the ISSN assigned to the serial in its first published medium, which links together all ISSNs assigned to the serial in every medium.
The format of the ISSN is an eight digit code, divided by a hyphen into two four-digit numbers. As an integer number, it can be represented by the first seven digits; the last code digit, which may be 0-9 or an X, is a check digit. Formally, the general form of the ISSN code can be expressed as follows: NNNN-NNNC where N is in the set, a digit character, C is in; the ISSN of the journal Hearing Research, for example, is 0378-5955, where the final 5 is the check digit, C=5. To calculate the check digit, the following algorithm may be used: Calculate the sum of the first seven digits of the ISSN multiplied by its position in the number, counting from the right—that is, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, respectively: 0 ⋅ 8 + 3 ⋅ 7 + 7 ⋅ 6 + 8 ⋅ 5 + 5 ⋅ 4 + 9 ⋅ 3 + 5 ⋅ 2 = 0 + 21 + 42 + 40 + 20 + 27 + 10 = 160 The modulus 11 of this sum is calculated. For calculations, an upper case X in the check digit position indicates a check digit of 10. To confirm the check digit, calculate the sum of all eight digits of the ISSN multiplied by its position in the number, counting from the right.
The modulus 11 of the sum must be 0. There is an online ISSN checker. ISSN codes are assigned by a network of ISSN National Centres located at national libraries and coordinated by the ISSN International Centre based in Paris; the International Centre is an intergovernmental organization created in 1974 through an agreement between UNESCO and the French government. The International Centre maintains a database of all ISSNs assigned worldwide, the ISDS Register otherwise known as the ISSN Register. At the end of 2016, the ISSN Register contained records for 1,943,572 items. ISSN and ISBN codes are similar in concept. An ISBN might be assigned for particular issues of a serial, in addition to the ISSN code for the serial as a whole. An ISSN, unlike the ISBN code, is an anonymous identifier associated with a serial title, containing no information as to the publisher or its location. For this reason a new ISSN is assigned to a serial each time it undergoes a major title change. Since the ISSN applies to an entire serial a new identifier, the Serial Item and Contribution Identifier, was built on top of it to allow references to specific volumes, articles, or other identifiable components.
Separate ISSNs are needed for serials in different media. Thus, the print and electronic media versions of a serial need separate ISSNs. A CD-ROM version and a web version of a serial require different ISSNs since two different media are involved. However, the same ISSN can be used for different file formats of the same online serial; this "media-oriented identification" of serials made sense in the 1970s. In the 1990s and onward, with personal computers, better screens, the Web, it makes sense to consider only content, independent of media; this "content-oriented identification" of serials was a repressed demand during a decade, but no ISSN update or initiative occurred. A natural extension for ISSN, the unique-identification of the articles in the serials, was the main demand application. An alternative serials' contents model arrived with the indecs Content Model and its application, the digital object identifier, as ISSN-independent initiative, consolidated in the 2000s. Only in 2007, ISSN-L was defined in the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they compose the legislature of the United States; the composition of the House is established by Article One of the United States Constitution. The House is composed of Representatives who sit in congressional districts that are allocated to each of the 50 states on a basis of population as measured by the U. S. Census, with each district entitled to one representative. Since its inception in 1789, all Representatives have been directly elected; the total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435. As of the 2010 Census, the largest delegation is that of California, with fifty-three representatives. Seven states have only one representative: Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming; the House is charged with the passage of federal legislation, known as bills, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the President for consideration.
In addition to this basic power, the House has certain exclusive powers, among them the power to initiate all bills related to revenue. The House meets in the south wing of the United States Capitol; the presiding officer is the Speaker of the House, elected by the members thereof. The Speaker and other floor leaders are chosen by the Democratic Caucus or the Republican Conference, depending on whichever party has more voting members. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress of the Confederation was a unicameral body in which each state was represented, in which each state had a veto over most action. After eight years of a more limited confederal government under the Articles, numerous political leaders such as James Madison and Alexander Hamilton initiated the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which received the Confederation Congress's sanction to "amend the Articles of Confederation". All states except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates; the issue of how to structure Congress was one of the most divisive among the founders during the Convention.
Edmund Randolph's Virginia Plan called for a bicameral Congress: the lower house would be "of the people", elected directly by the people of the United States and representing public opinion, a more deliberative upper house, elected by the lower house, that would represent the individual states, would be less susceptible to variations of mass sentiment. The House is referred to as the lower house, with the Senate being the upper house, although the United States Constitution does not use that terminology. Both houses' approval is necessary for the passage of legislation; the Virginia Plan drew the support of delegates from large states such as Virginia and Pennsylvania, as it called for representation based on population. The smaller states, favored the New Jersey Plan, which called for a unicameral Congress with equal representation for the states; the Convention reached the Connecticut Compromise or Great Compromise, under which one house of Congress would provide representation proportional to each state's population, whereas the other would provide equal representation amongst the states.
The Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of states in 1788, but its implementation was set for March 4, 1789. The House began work on April 1789, when it achieved a quorum for the first time. During the first half of the 19th century, the House was in conflict with the Senate over regionally divisive issues, including slavery; the North was much more populous than the South, therefore dominated the House of Representatives. However, the North held no such advantage in the Senate, where the equal representation of states prevailed. Regional conflict was most pronounced over the issue of slavery. One example of a provision supported by the House but blocked by the Senate was the Wilmot Proviso, which sought to ban slavery in the land gained during the Mexican–American War. Conflict over slavery and other issues persisted until the Civil War, which began soon after several southern states attempted to secede from the Union; the war culminated in the abolition of slavery. All southern senators except Andrew Johnson resigned their seats at the beginning of the war, therefore the Senate did not hold the balance of power between North and South during the war.
The years of Reconstruction that followed witnessed large majorities for the Republican Party, which many Americans associated with the Union's victory in the Civil War and the ending of slavery. The Reconstruction period ended in about 1877; the Democratic Party and Republican Party each held majorities in the House at various times. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw a dramatic increase in the power of the Speaker of the House; the rise of the Speaker's influence began in the 1890s, during the tenure of Republican Thomas Brackett Reed. "Czar Reed", as he was nicknamed, attempted to put into effect his view that "The best system is to have one party govern and the other party watch." The leadership structure of the House developed during the same period, with the positions of Majority Leader and Minority Leader being created in 1899. While the Minority Leader
Tariff in United States history
The tariff history of the United States spans from 1789 to present. The first tariff law passed by the U. S. Congress, acting under the then-recently ratified Constitution, was the Tariff of 1789, its purpose was to generate revenue for the federal government, to act as a protective barrier around newly starting domestic industries. An Import tax set by tariff rates was collected by treasury agents before goods could be unloaded at U. S. ports. Tariffs have served a key role in the nation's foreign trade policy and as a source of federal income. Tariffs were the greatest source of federal revenue until the Federal income tax began after 1913. For well over a century the federal government was financed by tariffs averaging about 20% on foreign imports. Tariffs are now employed, in the present trade war with China. Tariffs were the main source of all Federal revenue from 1790 to 1914. At the end of the American Civil War in 1865 about 63% of Federal income was generated by the excise taxes, which exceeded the 25.4% generated by tariffs.
In 1915 during World War I tariffs generated only 30.1% of revenues. Since 1935 tariff income has continued to be a declining percentage of Federal tax income. After the United States achieved independence in 1783, under the Articles of Confederation, the U. S. federal government, could not collect taxes directly but had to "request" money from each state—an fatal flaw for a federal government. Lack of ability to tax directly was one of several major flaws in the Articles of Confederation; the ability to tax directly was addressed in the drafting of the United States Constitution in May to September 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. After it was ratified by ten states in 1788 the new Constitution came into effect; the First United States Congress consisting of the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, newly elected President George Washington met on March 4, 1789 in the temporary capitol in New York City. The new Congress needed a way to collect taxes from all the states that were easy to enforce and had only a nominal cost to the average citizen.
They had just finished a war on "Taxation without Representation". The Tariff of 1789 was the second bill of the Republic signed by President Washington allowing Congress to impose a fixed tariff of about 5% on nearly all imports, with a few exceptions. In 1790 the United States Revenue Cutter Service was established to enforce and collect the import tariffs; this service became the United States Coast Guard. Britain was the first country to use a large-scale infant industry promotion strategy. However, its most ardent user was the U. S.. S. "the homeland and bastion of modern protectionism". Britain did not want to industrialize the American colonies, implemented policies to that effect. Thus, the American Revolution was, to some extent, a war against this policy, in which the commercial elite of the colonies rebelled against being forced to play a lesser role in the emerging Atlantic economy; this explains why, after independence, the Tariff Act of 1789 was the second bill of the Republic signed by President Washington allowing Congress to impose a fixed tariff of 5% on all imports, with a few exceptions.
Most American intellectuals and politicians during the country's catching-up period felt that the free trade theory advocated by British classical economists was not suited to their country. It was against the advice of economists like Adam Smith and Jean Baptiste Say that the United States were protecting their industries. Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States and Daniel Raymond were the first theorists to present the infant industry argument, not the German economist Friedrich List. Indeed, List started out as a free trade advocate and only converted to the infant industry argument following his exile in the U. S. Hamilton was the first to use the term "infant industries" and to introduce it to the forefront of economic thinking. Hamilton feared that Britain's policy towards the colonies would condemn the United States to be only producers of agricultural products and raw materials. Washington and Hamilton believed that political independence was predicated upon economic independence.
Increasing the domestic supply of manufactured goods war materials, was seen as an issue of national security. In Report on Manufactures, considered the first text to express modern protectionist theory, he argued that the competition from abroad and the "forces of habit" would mean that new industries would not be started in the United States, unless the initial losses were guaranteed by government aid. According to him, this aid could take the form of import duties or, in rare cases, prohibition of imports, he called for customs barriers to allow American industrial development and to help protect infant industries, including bounties derived in part from those tariffs. He believed that duties on raw materials should be low. Hamilton explained that despite an initial "increase of price" caused by regulations that control foreign competition, once a "domestic manufacture has attained to perfection… it invariably becomes cheaper"; the Congress passed a tariff act. Between 1792 and the war with Britain in 1812, the average tariff level remained around 12.5%.
In 1812 all tariffs were doubled to an average of 25% in order to cope with the increase in public expenditure due to the war. A sign
