Visualizing Government Spending, 1872 Edition Sometimes we forget that data visualization has been with us for quite some time. Above we see a “Fiscal Chart” created in 1872 that explores US government spending from 1789 to 1870. Via Public Insight Network: The left column shows where revenue came from. The yellow bars represent tariffs, which accounted for most of the nation’s income until Congress introduced the income tax (pink bars) in 1862 to help pay for the [Civil War, 1861 - 1865]. The bars in the right column show how the young nation spent its money. The light blue bars represent the Army, making a few other wars easy to spot. Since we’re going back into the past, now’s a good time to give a shout out to Florence Nightingale, our favorite data journalist of the time. Image: Fiscal Chart of the United States, by Francis A. Walker. Via Dashboard Insight. A biggie version can be seen here.

Visualizing Government Spending, 1872 Edition

Sometimes we forget that data visualization has been with us for quite some time. Above we see a “Fiscal Chart” created in 1872 that explores US government spending from 1789 to 1870.

Via Public Insight Network:

The left column shows where revenue came from. The yellow bars represent tariffs, which accounted for most of the nation’s income until Congress introduced the income tax (pink bars) in 1862 to help pay for the [Civil War, 1861 - 1865].

The bars in the right column show how the young nation spent its money. The light blue bars represent the Army, making a few other wars easy to spot.

Since we’re going back into the past, now’s a good time to give a shout out to Florence Nightingale, our favorite data journalist of the time.

Image: Fiscal Chart of the United States, by Francis A. Walker. Via Dashboard Insight. A biggie version can be seen here.

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