The story of America in five cartoons. Special SOTU edition :)

All from the New Yorker, of course :)
First up: the very basis of the political arrangement--the Constitution

Next up, the fact that we have a government means that a second certainty gets added:

As money started coming in, our government found lots of uses

And, often, not enough comes in, which doesn't prevent government actions

And now we find ourselves with a much less valued greenback