In 1914, shortly after the Federal Reserve was created, the US national debt was $2.9 billion. Today, it's more than 5,000 times that.

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Historical Debt Outstanding – Annual 1900 – 1949

The first fiscal year for the U.S. Government started Jan. 1, 1789. Congress changed the beginning of the fiscal year from Jan. 1 to Jul. 1 in 1842, and finally from Jul. 1 to Oct. 1 in 1977 where it remains today.
To find more historical information, visit The Public Debt Historical Information archives.

DateDollar Amount
06/30/1949252,770,359,860.33
06/30/1948252,292,246,512.99
06/30/1947258,286,383,108.67
06/28/1946269,422,099,173.26
06/30/1945258,682,187,409.93
06/30/1944201,003,387,221.13
06/30/1943136,696,090,329.90
06/30/1942 72,422,445,116.22
06/30/1941 48,961,443,535.71
06/29/1940 42,967,531,037.68
06/30/1939 40,439,532,411.11
06/30/1938 37,164,740,315.45
06/30/1937 36,424,613,732.29
06/30/1936 33,778,543,493.73
06/29/1935 28,700,892,624.53
06/30/1934 27,053,141,414.48
06/30/1933 22,538,672,560.15
06/30/1932 19,487,002,444.13
06/30/1931 16,801,281,491.71
06/30/1930 16,185,309,831.43
06/29/1929 16,931,088,484.10
06/30/1928 17,604,293,201.43
06/30/1927 18,511,906,931.85
06/30/1926 19,643,216,315.19
06/30/1925 20,516,193,887.90
06/30/1924 21,250,812,989.49
06/30/1923 22,349,707,365.36
06/30/1922 22,963,381,708.31
06/30/1921 23,977,450,552.54
07/01/1920 25,952,456,406.16
07/01/1919 27,390,970,113.12
07/01/1918 14,592,161,414.00
07/01/1917  5,717,770,279.52
07/01/1916  3,609,244,262.16
07/01/1915  3,058,136,873.16
07/01/1914  2,912,499,269.16
07/01/1913  2,916,204,913.66
07/01/1912  2,868,373,874.16
07/01/1911  2,765,600,606.69
07/01/1910  2,652,665,838.04
07/01/1909  2,639,546,241.04
07/01/1908  2,626,806,271.54
07/01/1907  2,457,188,061.54
07/01/1906  2,337,161,839.04
07/01/1905  2,274,615,063.84
07/01/1904  2,264,003,585.14
07/01/1903  2,202,464,781.89
07/01/1902  2,158,610,445.89
07/01/1901  2,143,326,933.89
07/01/1900  2,136,961,091.67

“The national debt is now $20.1 trillion. That’s larger than the size of the entire US economy… but, the real story isn’t the number or the size of the debt itself. It’s the trend. And it’s not good.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-12/real-story-behind-americas-new-20-trillion-debt
What matters is debt compared to income. Here’s a graph of federal debt as % of GDP.

 

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