Topic: What Did the Founders Say About Federal Money for Roads and Infrastructure?

[LadyVirginia]

It's worth reading this whole short commentary by Burt Folsom

The Constitution does not grant Congress the right to appropriate funds for infrastructure. Therefore, the Founders usually argued that states or private companies should do the work; neither good government nor just results occurred when the people in Georgia could be taxed to pave a road or build a canal in New York. The problem was, of course, that some congressmen, then as now, wanted to bring federal funds to their state. The congressmen from New York, for example, had incentives in 1817 to attract federal dollars to their state to build the ambitious Erie Canal—the longest proposed canal in the world. That canal would indeed prove to be a success and a money-maker, but President James Madison vetoed the 1817 bill to spend federal money to build the Erie Canal, and other improvements. He knew the roads were needed, but he wanted New York to build its own canal, and Georgia to pave its own roads. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution did not make road building a federal function, and Madison wanted to go with the Constitution. “I am constrained,” Madison said, “by the insuperable difficulty I feel in reconciling the bill with the Constitution.” Hence the veto.

I think most people assume that the federal government has to be the entity that takes care of infrastructure.

[charlesoakwood]

A "Pawn Stars" customer brought in a verified lottery ticket issued by George Washington. 
He was building a bridge.

[LadyVirginia]

A "Pawn Stars" customer brought in a verified lottery ticket issued by George Washington. 
He was building a bridge.

Peopel are so short-sighted.  They assume the ways things are done now is the only way things can be done.

[Libertas]

In another era the constitution reigned supreme, even political foes placed the constitution into the forefront of their thinking.  BY the time the progressive era took root much of that concern began to wane and damn near disappear alltogether...

IMO I was born far far too late in the game!!!

[Pandora]

A "Pawn Stars" customer brought in a verified lottery ticket issued by George Washington. 
He was building a bridge.

Lou Monte - What did Washington say