Opinion | The Constitution, Congress and government debt WashTimesOpEd
This was the standard until the Civil War, when the Lincoln administration issued $450 million in paper money, called “greenbacks,” with which it paid its bills and imposed a personal income tax. Neither was authorized by the Constitution. The greenbacks soon caused severe inflation and eventually became worthless.
Before the war, the federal government subsisted on tariffs, excise taxes, fees for services and assessments to the states. In 1860, its annual budget was less than $60 million. During the war, it was spending $1 million per day. By 1865, its debt had ballooned to about $3 billion.
Congressional Republicans, who had stripped the Supreme Court of jurisdiction to hear appeals on Reconstruction, anticipated judicial resistance to this, socrafted a clause in the 14th Amendment that prohibited anyone from challenging the federal debt that the states would soon collectively be assuming.
The clause reads, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law … shall not be questioned.” Unpacking this clause, we see two underlying values. Obviously, the phrase “shall not be questioned” is not intended to curtail the freedom of speech of persons — as that is a natural right largely immune from governmental interference — but rather the official acts of the states and the judiciary.
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