This sort of monetization of the Presidency would have shocked 18th-Century sensibilities. An example: George Washington was a big supporter of canal-building.

This sort of monetization of the Presidency would have shocked 18th-Century sensibilities. An example: George Washington was a big supporter of canal-building. To honor Washington, the Virginia legislature decided in 1795 to gift him shares in two canal companies it had established. Washington agonized over what to do, because accepting the shares would give the impression that he was using the Presidency for his own personal gain, while rejecting them would be insulting. He also wanted to publicly show his support for the canal projects. He ended up requesting that the shares to be used to fund a university and a seminary. Washington's status at this point was already secure enough that nobody would have seriously accused him of corruption, but he was extremely wary of doing anything that could in any way be perceived as self-interested. The fact that former politicians are taking massive speaking fees from businesses that their policies affected looks corrupt, and that in itself is already bad enough.