Track 20: The waterworks trick. Creating a bank to break the Federalist monopoly. A masterstroke of legal ambiguity.
Hey.
You want some water?
Clean, fresh water?
New York City is thirsty and dry.
Yellow fever is making us die.
We need a solution! We need a pipe!
The time for a water company is ripe!
I go to the legislature with a plan.
"I’m here to save every woman and man!
Let me form a company, give me the charter!
I’ll bring you the water, I’m a willing martyr!"
The Manhattan Company!
Clean water for all!
And maybe a bank inside of the wall!
The Manhattan Company!
It flows from the tap!
And falls right into my financial lap!
Hamilton has a monopoly?
Well, not anymore!
I just kicked down the door!
I wrote the charter with a clever clause.
"Surplus capital" – giving me pause.
"Use it for anything legal," it said.
Hamilton read it and shook his head.
He signed it! He voted! He didn't see!
That the water company was a treasury!
Now I have a bank! Now I have the gold!
The Federalist grip is losing its hold!
He realizes too late.
He looks at the ink.
"Burr, you trickster! You liar! You fink!"
I smile and I pour him a glass of the stuff.
"Drink up, Alexander. Isn't it enough?"
The Manhattan Company!
Clean water for all!
And maybe a bank inside of the wall!
The Manhattan Company!
It’s legal! It’s true!
And now I can fund the election too!
Cheers!