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1913 Was a Very Bad Year ( from way back )
American Thinker ^ | August 8, 2010 | J.B. Williams

Posted on 01/19/2012 7:58:40 PM PST by george76

Prior to 1913, there was no federal income tax. The states had rights and representation in Washington, D.C., there was no Federal Reserve Bank, and the federal government lived under the enumerated powers afforded within the U.S. Constitution. What a difference one year can make...

...

Passage of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution would forever change life in America, and not for the better.

...

Further, thanks to the 17th Amendment, also passed in 1913, the states no longer have representation in Washington, D.C. Once again, what seemed like a simple sentence and a good idea to some at the time has since been used by the federal government to eliminate states' sovereignty and rights...

The year 1913 gave birth to today's interpretation of the abused "supremacy clause" -- a wholly anti-American notion that the federal government has unlimited, "supreme" power over the states and the people. Without states' representation in D.C. due to the 17th Amendment, the Fed is free to run wild...and running wild it is.

...

The year 1913 was one of the worst years in American history, as the people thereafter became fiscally responsible for the unethical actions of a few in banking and government. The states lost their representation in the Senate, state sovereignty, and rights, while the Fed grabbed "supreme powers" and the Federal Reserve became the arm of government that would sink the nation in a mountain of debt.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: 16thamendment; 17thamendment; 1913; federalreserve
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1 posted on 01/19/2012 7:58:48 PM PST by george76
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To: george76

And it was Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat.


2 posted on 01/19/2012 8:02:13 PM PST by SkyDancer ("If You Want To Learn To Love Better, You Should Start With A Friend Who You Hate")
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To: george76

You can thank the damn Senate for this and for the commerce clause and interstate/intrastate. It was these lying thieves that started it all.


3 posted on 01/19/2012 8:08:59 PM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: SkyDancer
The 16th Amendment and the Income Tax were REPUBLICAN DEALS. The Amendment was voted on in 1909 in Congress and was ratified in 1913.

They were sold to the public with the idea that a personal income tax would never affect the working man, just THE RICH ~ in fact, just the top 1% or maybe 2% of folks with cash income.

Don't blame it on Wilson!

4 posted on 01/19/2012 8:12:25 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah

The post was about 1913. I just Googled who was president at the time. It was a Democrat. Okay???


5 posted on 01/19/2012 8:17:20 PM PST by SkyDancer ("If You Want To Learn To Love Better, You Should Start With A Friend Who You Hate")
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To: muawiyah

Republican and Democrat means two different things today. For example, Grover Cleveland-a Democrat-would be considered a Conservative today.


6 posted on 01/19/2012 8:17:57 PM PST by MattinNJ (Palin endorsed Newt. I am all in.)
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To: george76

The media and the Foundations/publishing co. and universities were filled with a lot of “Progressives” by then. They intentionally wanted to destroy the Constitution and was trying to get the Federal Reserve for years.....and with friends in key places, they did it and took over public school education, also, soon after. John Dewey was another intentional plant-—Fabian Socialist-—to create a massive education system to brainwash and condition masses by using the Prussian school design.

They kicked out God—(McGuffey Readers) and Objective Truth (Right and Wrong) —the BASIS OF US LAW-—and preceded to destroy our legal system by training lawyers in John Austin’s immoral philosophy.

We need to go back to John Locke’s ideas, Blackstones, English Common Law—the intent and basis of our legal system —how to arrive at Just Law—through Natural Law Theory.


7 posted on 01/19/2012 8:27:57 PM PST by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law.)
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To: george76

Right ON!

A VERY bad year on a number of fronts and we are NEVER again going to be a free people until we deal with those TERRIBLE mistakes!


8 posted on 01/19/2012 8:31:48 PM PST by Bigun ("The most fearsome words in the English language are I'm from the government and I'm here to help!")
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To: george76
This is a very important article, George. Thanks for posting it. Unfortunately, most "conservatives" today are not interested in pushing for repeal of the 17th Amendment and a re-invigoration of states rights. Nor are conservatives interested in pushing for the kind of major tax overhaul that we need.

Still, I'm glad some voices are making these arguments. I made them here on FR years ago, and they fell mostly on deaf ears. From the posted article:

Almost a hundred years later, it's clear that the policies established in 1913 must be revoked in order to restore power to the people and the states. But can the American people stuff the genie back in to the bottle?

Prior to the enactment of the income tax, most citizens were able to pursue their private economic affairs without the direct knowledge of the government. Individuals earned their wages, businesses earned their profits, and wealth was accumulated and dispensed with little or no interaction with government entities.

Further, thanks to the 17th Amendment, also passed in 1913, the states no longer have representation in Washington, D.C. Once again, what seemed like a simple sentence and a good idea to some at the time has since been used by the federal government to eliminate states' sovereignty and rights.


9 posted on 01/19/2012 8:37:04 PM PST by Wolfstar (“The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.” Theodore Roosevelt)
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To: SkyDancer

The 16th Amendment was proposed by a Republican Congress and ratified in February 1913. Wilson did not become President until March 4. All 3 candidates in the 1912 election, Wilson, Taft, and Teddy Roosevelt supported the income tax. It was sold with the claim that it would only apply to the top one percent. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Realistically, the income tax is not going away and neither is the Federal Reserve. However, the lack of state representation in DC since the direct election of Senators is a real issue. Unfortunately, today, the states seem much more interested in begging for cash from DC than in limiting Federal power.


10 posted on 01/19/2012 8:39:46 PM PST by iowamark
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To: george76

very good book on the subject:
http://www.losthorizons.com/Cracking_the_Code.htm

.

http://losthorizons.com/CtCforFree.pdf


“If you...examined [The 16th Amendment] carefully, you would find that a sufficient number of states never ratified that amendment.” - U.S. District Court Judge James C. Fox 2003.


What the IRS website and the Government in general refuse to recognize is that the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was never ratified by a majority of the States. Only two or less States properly ratified the proposed Amendment. In February 1913 Secretary of State Knox falsely declared the 16th Amendment ratified and the government has been unlawfully demanding taxes ever since.

The 16th Amendment allegedly entitled the government to collect uneven taxes. The U.S. Constitution does not preclude taxation it dictates that tax be uniform for everyone, except Indians, and apportioned equally across all the States:

Article I, Section 2: “..Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.”

The 16th Amendment is claimed by the federal government in the federal territory of Washington, D.C. to authorize their private collection company, the IRS, to collect “income tax”. However if the 16th was not properly ratified the IRS has no legal authority to collect tax. The same applies to local County and State tax collectors who are also bound by the U.S. Constitution.

After an exhaustive year long search of legislative records in 48 sovereign States conducted by Bill Benson, (Alaska & Hawaii were not admitted into the Union until after 1913). the only record of the 16th Amendment ever having been confirmed was a fraudulent proclamation made by the Secretary of State Philander Knox on February 25, 1913, wherein he simply declared it to be “in effect”, but never stated that it was lawfully ratified. Bill Benson’s has an excellent website, support him: The Law That Never Was

Even if the 16th Amendment were properly ratified, according to Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution, it has always been unconstitutional for the U.S. Federal Government to directly tax “We the People” in their property, wages, salaries, or earnings. U.S. Supreme Court Judges repeatedly rejected any claims that the 16th Amendment changed the constitutional limits on direct taxes: Brushaber v. Union Pacific R.R. Co., 240 U.S. 1,

The Supreme Court ruled that the 16th “created no new power of taxation” and that it “did not change the constitutional limitations which forbid any direct taxation of individuals”. This and other similar cases have never been overturned.

An argument often made by judges attempting to ignore the fact of the failure to ratify the 16th, is that precedence under Common Law now exists because the IRS has been mugging the public for so long and this somehow legalizes the IRS and the local County Tax collector. However, the U.S. Constitution is higher law than the precedence of Common Law, which in itself represents the will of the people and not the will of the government. Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution dictates that the IRS and the local County Tax collector are collecting tax unlawfully.
Bill Benson’s exhaustive investigation of the history of the 16th Amendment revealed the following defects and prove the 16th horribly failed to receive the necessary three-fourths of the States approval. To have been ratified 36 of the 48 States would have had to properly ratify the 16th Amendment. Naturally for something as significant as the U.S. Constitution, ratification of an Amendment is extremely important and serious, typos, spelling and anything that is not an exact copy of the Amendment is utterly unacceptable, this is no pre-school project.

SNIP

http://www.libertyforlife.com/constitution/failure_to_ratify_the_16th-details.html


11 posted on 01/19/2012 8:43:11 PM PST by phockthis (http://www.supremelaw.org/fedzone11/index.htm ...)
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To: iowamark

Unfortunately, today, the states seem much more interested in begging for cash from DC than in limiting Federal power.


12 posted on 01/19/2012 8:43:46 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer ("Climate Change" my a.... All weather is local.)
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To: Wolfstar

Thanks


13 posted on 01/19/2012 8:44:13 PM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: Bigun

Bookmark


14 posted on 01/19/2012 9:04:08 PM PST by Publius6961 (My world was lovely, until it was taken over by parasites.)
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To: Publius6961

Lincoln started the whole ball rolling.


15 posted on 01/19/2012 9:08:00 PM PST by 3boysdad (The very elect.)
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To: muawiyah
The 16th Amendment and the Income Tax were REPUBLICAN DEALS.

That was the 61st Congress. Go here for details about the 61st.

The "Progressive Era" occurred from about the 1890's up to about the end of WWI. Prominent Democrats and Republicans of the period were Progressives, so legislation enacted during that time can't be laid solely at the feet of either the Democrats or Republicans. Theodore Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, Louis Brandeis, Samuel Gompers, and Susan B. Anthony are a few examples of early Progressives.

Also, we can't lose sight of the fact that the 16th and 17th Amendments were both ratified by the states, and that took majority votes of 48 state legislatures.

The early Progressive Era focused mostly on social and business reforms. That era really can't be compared directly with modern progressives, since over the past 100 years, progressives have increasingly moved to the far Left politically.

The first income tax was enacted to raise revenue to fund the Civil War, when Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1861. It levied a flat tax of 3% on annual income above $800.

Then, 26 years later, the Socialist Labor Party advocated a graduated income tax in 1887. The Populist Party also "demanded" a graduated income tax in its 1892 platform. The Democratic Party, led by William Jennings Bryan, joined in and advocated the income tax law passed in 1894, and proposed an income tax in its 1908 platform.

16 posted on 01/19/2012 9:12:49 PM PST by Wolfstar (“The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.” Theodore Roosevelt)
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To: george76

Yeah bad alright.

And wasnt it about this time the Spanish Flu kicked in and killed about 6 million folks worldwide? and lets not forget WWI.

Now here it is 2012 almost a 100 years down the pike...


17 posted on 01/19/2012 9:18:07 PM PST by Gasshog (going to get what all those libs asked for, but its not what they expected.)
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To: Wolfstar

“Prior to the enactment of the income tax, most citizens were able to pursue their private economic affairs without the direct knowledge of the government. Individuals earned their wages, businesses earned their profits, and wealth was accumulated and dispensed with little or no interaction with government entities.’

Hard to imagine now, but how different life would be for all if it were the case today.


18 posted on 01/19/2012 9:42:08 PM PST by Rennes Templar
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To: george76

Prior to 1913, there was no federal income tax. The states had rights and representation in Washington, D.C., there was no Federal Reserve Bank, and the federal government lived under the enumerated powers afforded within the U.S. Constitution.

Wow, it sounds like a fiscal conservative platform. I’ll start sending money to any party that adopts these planks.


19 posted on 01/19/2012 10:01:41 PM PST by freedomfiter2 (Brutal acts of commission and yawning acts of omission both strengthen the hand of the devil.)
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To: SkyDancer

Woodrow Wilson - I hate that guy.


20 posted on 01/20/2012 12:12:18 AM PST by bootless (Never Forget. Never Again. (PursuingLiberty.com))
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