American Fur Company Is Chartered
At a glance:
- Series: Great Events from History: North American Series
- Categories: Economics, Land Acquisition and Expansion, Territory Redistribution
- Subcategories: Trade, Commerce
- Curriculum: American Early National History (1789-1815)
- Geographical Location: New York
- Date: April 6, 1808
Article abstract: The first American monopoly launches the American fur trade in the trans-Mississippi West.
Summary of Event
On April 6, 1808, the New York state legislature granted a charter to the American Fur Company for a period of twenty-five years. The capital stock was not to exceed one million dollars until two years had passed, and thereafter it was not to exceed two million dollars. The sole stockholder was John Jacob Astor, who, in 1783, at the age of twenty, had come to the United States as an impoverished immigrant from Germany. After...
[The entire page is 1292 words long]
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