On the exergue will be inscribed 'Seal of the
Manhattan Company.'"
There are nine banks now in existence whose history reaches back into
the Eighteenth Century. Of these, two are in Massachusetts, two in
Connecticut, one in Pennsylvania, one in Delaware, one in Maryland and
two in New York.
Corporate banking in New York began with the organization of the Bank of
New York by Alexander Hamilton in 1784, which received its charter in
1792. For fifteen years this bank, together with the New York branch of
the first Bank of the United States, were the only banks doing business
in either the City or State of New York. With Hamilton and the Federals
in control of the Legislature, new bank charters were unobtainable. This
monopoly of banking facilities in the City and State was of great
strategic value to the political party in control, and naturally aroused
jealousy and resentment among the members of the opposition, whose
leader was Aaron Burr.
[Illustration: EXCERPT FROM CHARTER]
In 1798 New York City suffered from a severe yellow fever epidemic,
which was attributed to an inadequate and inferior water supply. Upon
the assembling of the Legislature in 1799, an association of
individuals, among whom Aaron Burr was the moving spirit, applied for a
charter for the purpose of "supplying the City of New York with pure and
wholesome water.
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