The spendthrift U.S. Congress has been “out of money” since 1776.
However....
“The conclusion then, is, that neither the representatives of a nation, nor the whole nation itself assembled, can validly engage debts beyond what they may pay in their own time.” —Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789. ME 7:457, Papers 15:398n
http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1340.htm
Thomas Jefferson on Politics & Government
38. The National Debt
“The spendthrift U.S. Congress has been ‘out of money’ since 1776.”
A) There was no U.S. Congress (nor any U.S.) in 1776.
B) I believe the budget was balanced (for the last time) in the Jackson administration.