Background
In the late 1820s, corruption was rampant in the municipal administration of New York City. Public services like street lighting, were rendered by friends of the politicians who got monopolies for almost no payment to the city. "Charter dealers", among them Samuel B. Romaine, bribed assemblymen in Albany to get a large number of banks chartered. These banks issued their own currency with which working men were paid but which was not well accepted by the commerce, and devaluated quickly. Contractors built houses, but did not pay the workers after delivering the house, without consequences.
Read more about this topic: Workingmen's Party Of New York
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