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Economy, Community and Law: The Turnpike Movement in New York, 1797-1845

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  • Klein, Daniel
  • Majewski, John

Abstract

Turnpike companies were the exemplary type of early American business corporation: they were the most prevalent, they were the most community laden, and they were unprofitable. The turnpike experience enhances our understanding of the evolution of the law of private and public corporations. We explain that the state turned to the private sector for highway management because of intense commercial and regional rivalries and the failure of public alternatives. Private management and toll-taking were startling innovations to some members of the community, however, and they protested the introduction of turnpikes. The bete noires of "private corporation" and "aristocracy" were often used to denounce turnpikes. The legislature both expressed and responded to these suspicions by writing laws favorable to local users and damaging to the financial viability of the companies. Partly in consequence of the unfavorable laws turnpikes were unprofitable. Merchants, farmers, and landowners struggled to finance turnpikes, not in hopes of company dividends, but in hopes of improved transportation, stimulated commerce, and higher land values. Many turnpike projects were stillborn while those that were constructed hobbled along in a precarious financial state.

Suggested Citation

  • Klein, Daniel & Majewski, John, 1991. "Economy, Community and Law: The Turnpike Movement in New York, 1797-1845," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt61b022cr, University of California Transportation Center.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt61b022cr
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    Cited by:

    1. Klein, Daniel & Majewski, John, 2003. "America’s Toll Roads Heritage: The Achievements of Private Initiative in the 19th Century," Ratio Working Papers 30, The Ratio Institute.
    2. Dan Bogart, 2012. "Profiting from Public Works: Financial Returns to Infrastructure and Investment Strategies during Britain's Industrial Revolution," Working Papers 121304, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics.
    3. Hilt, Eric, 2008. "When did Ownership Separate from Control? Corporate Governance in the Early Nineteenth Century," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 68(3), pages 645-685, September.
    4. Klein, D.B. & Yin, C., 1994. "The Private Provision of Frontier Infrastructure: Toll Roads in California, 1850-1902," Papers 94-95-4, California Irvine - School of Social Sciences.
    5. Dan Bogart & John Majewski, 2008. "Two Roads to the Transportation Revolution: Early Corporations in the United Kingdom and the United States," NBER Chapters, in: Understanding Long-Run Economic Growth: Geography, Institutions, and the Knowledge Economy, pages 177-204, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Hilt, Eric & Valentine, Jacqueline, 2012. "Democratic Dividends: Stockholding, Wealth, and Politics in New York, 1791–1826," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(2), pages 332-363, May.

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    Social and Behavioral Sciences;

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