[Grand Old Partisan]

The federal government was miniscule until the 1930s expansion by the Democrats followed by the 1960s expansion by the Democrats in the 1960s, so it is ridiculous to blame federal goverment expansion on a Republican President in the 1860s.

[Veracious Poet]

"The federal government was miniscule until the 1930s expansion by the Democrats followed by the 1960s expansion by the Democrats in the 1960s, so it is ridiculous to blame federal goverment expansion on a Republican President in the 1860s."

If you really understood the mechanisms behind what happened with the Fed since the 30s, you would know it was Lincoln's perversion of the Constitution and his use of dictorial-like powers that enabled the endless expansion...Lincoln set the precedent that made it all legal.