[the_only_law]

> The earliest known usage was by the American author Charles Astor Bristed, in a letter to the editor published in The New York Times on January 11, 1863. He used it to refer to claims that British aristocrats were intentionally weakening the United States during the American Civil War in order to advance their financial interests.

Those damn CIA time travelers.

[Gud]

Just because someone used a phrase earlier doesn’t mean todays usage traces back to then.

It is possible it was used in the 1860s and fell out of use and was popularized by the CIA at the time of JFKs assassination