How Congress constrained early American ships of the line

How much time and money would the United States need to build first- and third-rate ships around the War of 1812?

The historical programs show the answer: the United States could build them, but repeated cancellations and congressional constraints made continuity the central problem.

USS America and the cancelled ships around her lead to the abandoned Columbus class and then to USS Independence, begun during the War of 1812. Independence was launched in 1814, later razeed, and survived until the early twentieth century, making her another plausible museum-ship loss. The early US Navy possessed considerable design ambition but remained heavily constrained by congressional funding and continuity.