n Erastus Root, then
just entering his first term in Congress, saw nothing in the
transaction to shock society's sense of propriety or to break the
loftiest code of morality. "There was nothing of mystery in the
passage of the bank," he wrote. "The projectors sought to push it
forward by spreading the stock among the influential Republicans of
the State, including members of the Legislature, and carry it through
as a party measure. It was argued by the managers of the scheme that
the stock would be above par in order to induce the members of the
Legislature to go into the measure, but nothing in the transaction had
the least semblance of a corrupt influence. No one would hesitate from
motives of delicacy, to offer a member, nor for him to take, shares in
a bank sooner than in a turnpike or in an old canal."[158]

[Footnote 158: Jabez D. Hammond, _Political History of New York_, Vol.
1. Appendix, p. 583, Note J.]

One can hardly imagine Erastus Root serious in the expression of such
a monstrous doctrine. His life had been pure and noble. He was a
sincere lover of his country; a statesman of high purpose, and of the
most commanding talents. No one ever accused him of any share in this
financial corruption. Yet a more Machiavellian opinion could not have
been uttered. On principle, Republican members of the Legislature
opposed banks, and that principle was overcome by profits; in other
words, members must be bought, or the charter would fail. That the
stock did go above par is evident from Root's keen desire to get some
of it. As an influential Republican, he was allowed to subscribe for
fifty shares, but when he called for it the papers could not be found.
The bank was not a bubble. It had been organised and its stock issued,
but its hook had been so well baited that the legislators left nothing
for outsiders. Subsequently the directors sent Root a certificate for
eight shares, and John Lamb, an assemblyman from Root's home, gave up
eight more; but the Delaware congressman, angry because deprived of
his fifty shares, refused to accept any. "I had come prepared to take
the fifty," he wrote, "and in a fit of more spunk than wisdom, I
rejected the whole."[159]

[Footnote 159: Jabez D. Hammond, _Political History of New York_, Vol.
1. Appendix, p. 582, Note S.]

Two years after, in 1805, the Federalists desired to charter the
Merchants' Bank of New York City. But the Legislature, largely
Republican, was led by DeWitt Cli