ABSTRACT
In this study I have looked at the development of the Manhattan Company from 1799 to 1842. My analysis has had two focal points. The first was the modern charter of the company and its effect upon operations. At the time of the Manhattan Company’s founding, most charters for businesses were very narrow in scope, detailing precisely what a company could and could not do. Most charters also were for limited durations and the amount of capital usually was kept small. These general patterns were even more apparent with corporations chartered for banking or other financial purposes. Legislatures tended to carefully structure banks because the ability of banks to issue their own notes amounted to a public franchise for the circulation of currency. Also behind the tight legislative control of banks was the political motivation of granting banking powers to one’s supporters and denying them to one’s opponents. Access to financial resources therefore was a political as well as an economic lever.
