The Founding Finaglers

Corruption is as American as apple pie. From the Founding Fathers to the daily headlines, it runs through American history like a scarlet thread. Most Americans prefer to ignore the fact that the grafting politician, the corrupt business tycoon, and the crooked labor baron are prominent fixtures in their national folklore. But long before Watergate and its accompanying horrors, the people of the United States have been alternately chagrined and entertained by the venality of their elected leaders. In The Founding Finaglers, journalist Nathan Miller re-creates this fascinating series of spectacular schemes and colorful personalities, beginning with the first American settlement and continuing through Watergate. Graft and chiseling were old hat to those who settled the English colonies in America in the seventeenth century. Officials of the Crown were paid inadequate salaries and made up for it in gratuities and bribes. Peerages and titles were for sale to the highest bidder.^