Bill for the Benefit of the Indigent Insane

[4] Pierce conceded that in March 1819 and April 1826, Congress had made similar land grants to the Connecticut and Kentucky state governments, respectively, for asylums to educate physically disabled individuals.

[5] In response, Senator John M. Clayton argued that presidential vetoes should be limited to rejecting unconstitutional legislation and that Congress' "power of the purse" was sufficiently broad to support this spending.

Clayton noted that Pierce had voted for the Deposit Act of 1836 while in Congress, allowing the US Department of the Treasury to distribute its surplus funds to state governments.

[3] Republicans subsequently passed the Morrill Land-Grant Acts of 1862 and 1890 to provide state governments with land that could be sold to fund the creation of colleges and universities.

[7] In the Supreme Court's 1937 decision in Steward Machine Co. v. Davis, Justice James Clark McReynolds' dissent primarily relied on Pierce's veto message to argue against upholding the 1935 Social Security Act for imposing federal payroll taxes to fund unemployment insurance.