The Slave of Liberty (1878)

Should five percent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
--The Beatles

The first federal income tax was passed under the Lincoln administration to help fund the Civil War. It was abolished in 1872. Economic interests feeling the effect of subsequent revenue-generating tariffs sought to broaden the tax burden by reintroducing the income tax in the late 1870s.

Thomas Nast drew the above cartoon to convey his opposition to the income tax. It first appeared in Harper's Weekly on February 9, 1878. Titled "Peace With a War Measure," it depicted the Statue of Liberty turned Slave of Liberty, with tattered clothes and the weight of the income tax around her neck. Her hands are shackled behind her with additional weights of Ideal Money, Laws, and Taxes.

Nast and income tax opponents were able to defeat the income tax bill in 1878. It was later re-enacted in 1894 before being struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the pro-income tax forces prevailed in 1913 with the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment.

Liberty has been enslaved since.