OHIO--THE 48TH STATE?

In 1953, Congress adopted legislation admitting Ohio as a state. Prior to this time, many persons were under the general impression that Ohio had already joined the Union in 1803. However, when preparing for celebrations for the 150th anniversary of statehood in 1953, the organizers discovered that there was never a joint resolution signed by Congress formally admitting Ohio as the 17th state. In order to resolve any potential legal complications, the Ohio legislature approved a new petition for statehood. At the federal level, Ohioan George Bender of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bill which would admit Ohio retroactively as of March 1, 1803. Congress passed the joint resolution which was then signed by President Eisenhower on August 7, 1953. 

For reasons explained in exquisite and painstaking detail by The Green Papers, it may not have been legally necessary in the first place to have a joint Congressional resolution admitting Ohio (or, for that matter, any other state). Nonetheless, creative tax protesters have argued that the 1953 date applies and that since William Howard Taft was born in Ohio prior to it becoming a state in 1953, he was not a natural-born citizen and was thus barred by the Constitution from becoming President. The protesters then conclude that the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which authorized the income tax, was as a result invalid when it was adopted during Taft's Presidency in 1913. These arguments have been universally found wanting by the courts who have considered the issue.