18. The Sixteenth Amendment (1913) gave Congress the power to collect an income tax; it was proposed and ratified to replace a law that had ben declared unconstitutional in an 1895 Supreme Court case. The income tax had been seen as means of putting into effect the concept of the progressive taxation, in which the tax rate increases with income. The Sixteenth Amendment put the progressive taxation on a constitutional basis. Progressive taxes helped promote social equality through the redistribution of income; that higher-income people are taxed at higher rates to help fund social programs that benefit lower-income people. This being said progressive taxes are very important to our democracy, it helped promote social equality. The Commerce clause is the third clause of the Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution, which gives Congress the power to regulate commerce among the states. This was very important to the Constitution because the commerce clause was a major factor that increased the national governments power. After the Revolution ended and independence was a reality, it became clear that the national government had neither the economic nor the military power to function effectively. In 1786 a sever problem happened in Massachusetts where high interest rates and high state taxes were forcing farmers into bankruptcy. The Shays Rebellion revolted against established order continuing until 1787 when Massachusetts appealed to the constitution for help. The rebellion demonstrated the importance of the confederation and urgent need for national government power. The rebellion led to the Constitutional Convention where the New Jersey and Virginia Plan was presented. The Virginia Plan defeated the New Jersey plan 7-3 which created a more powerful national government with separation of powers into three branches. The separations of powers are the assignments of