“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on the objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” James Madison, 1792, in disapproval of Congress appropriating $15,000 to assist some French refugees What would Mr. Madison think of multiple Trillions?
“We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.” –Thomas Jefferson, letter to Samuel Kercheval, 12 July 1816
In reality there is perhaps no one of our natural Passions so hard to subdue as Pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will now and then peek out and show itself. Benjamin Franklin 1771
Abraham Lincoln on October 3, 1863 instituted a national day of Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November, proclaiming in part: “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation [...]