Public Finance

The subject of public finance is treated in the colonial section of this bibliography, and there are a few relevant items scattered through the other chronological sections. Listed below are a few articles that focus on the subject, but for the most part taxation and public finance are treated by writers concerned with government and politics, and such works should be consulted.

Hopkins, Francis W. "An Historical Sketch of Local Finance in Connecticut Until 1930 with Special Reference to Forest Resources." Photocopy of a typescript revision of an unpublished doctoral dissertation, Yale, 1936. Both the dissertation and the photocopy are available at Yale.

Kafes, William O. "Usury and it Progeny: A Survey of Interest Rate Regulation in Connecticut" Connecticut Bar Journal 43(June, 1969)2:220-58. Four pages on the history of the subject: English, colonial era, Connecticut to 1958. The bulk of the article discusses statutes as they were in 1958.

Manwaring, Christopher. Essays, Historial Moral Political and Agricultural New London: Samuel Green, 1829. Includes a diatribe against Federalist tax policies in the early nineteenth century.

Wadhams,John M. "State Finance and Taxation," in History of Connecticut in Monographic Form. Edited by Norris Galpin Osborn. (New York 1925)II:427-79. From the tax reform of 1821, which ruined Connecticut's public school “system,” to taxes for good roads in the twentieth century, the Chairman of the State Board of Finance takes us for a romp through the delights of this always exciting subject. Lots of information and a profusion of numbers. Of special usefulness is Wadham's reprinting of an illuminating and important speech on tax reform by Governor Oliver Wolcott in 1821. (pp. 432-37)

Walradt Henry Freeman. "The Financial History of Connecticut from 1789 to 1861." Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. 17(March, 1912):1-139. This is a standard treatment and a good starting place. There is heavy emphasis on delivering information rather than analysis, so that the piece is easy to understand. The work has been separately published; look in the card catalog under “Walradt" if your library doesn't have the Transactions.

Warren, Alvin C., Jr. "Property Tax Exemptions for Charitable, Education, Religious and Governmental Institutions in Connecticut" Connecticut Law Review 4(Fall, 1971)2:184-98. Includes several pages of history of taxation and exemptions in colonial and nineteenth-century Connecticut.