 For example, the controversial Bank Bill of 1791 chartered a 20-year corporate monopoly for the First Bank of the United States.Although the Federal government has from time to time chartered corporations, the general chartering of corporations has been left to the states.In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, corporations began to be chartered in greater numbers by the states, under general laws allowing for incorporation at the initiative of citizens, rather than through specific acts of the legislature.