When Abe Lincoln ran for Congress, his friends gave him $200 for the campaign. He gave back $199.25!

Abraham Lincoln - the 16th president of the United States, the man who signed the Emancipation Proclamation, the speaker of the Gettysburg Address - was also quite thrifty. In 1845, Lincoln started campaigning for Congress as a representative from Illinois.

He was given a $200 war chest for his campaigning activities. However, he returned nearly all of this money after he had won the race (by receiving 56% of the votes).

Lincoln explained that he used his own horse to travel from county to county and that his entertainment was staying at friends' homes. All of which cost him nothing.

In the end, Lincoln returned $199.25. He spent the 75 cents on a barrel of cider for a group of farm hands after they insisted that he buy it for them.

(Source)