ABSTRACT
The state legislatures of the industrial Northeast divided into three fairly distinct categories, with respect to their attitude toward the federal income tax amendment. The major variable in the rate of ratification was the degree and speed of the disintegration that affected the once-powerful Republican organizations in the north-eastern states. Taxpayers in the occupations constituted fifty-five percent of the total in Wisconsin and Michigan, and seventy-eight percent in Maryland, with most of the other north-eastern states showing figures between two-thirds and three-fourths. Even though a few of the north-eastern states ratified after the necessary number of states had acted, most of them responded in time to provide the crucial margin of victory. In most states, this electoral upheaval gave the Democrats rare and temporary control of the legislature. In others, it created a situation where Democrats, Progressives, and dissident Republicans could cooperate in enacting legislation traditionally opposed by the dominant organization.
