In Bank of the United States v. The Planters' Bank of Georgia25 it was held that a suit against a corporation chartered and partly owned by the State was not a suit against the State. " The State does not," said Marshall, " by becoming a corporator, identify itself with the corporation. The Planters' Bank of Georgia is not the State of Georgia, although the State holds an interest in it. It is, we think, a sound principle, that when a government becomes a partner in any trading company, it divests itself, so far as concerns the transactions of that company, of its sovereign character, and takes that of a private citizen. Instead of communicating to the company its privileges and its prerogatives, it descends to a level with those with whom it associates itself, and takes the character which belongs to its associates, and to the business which is to be transacted."

The principle laid down in this case was again applied in the cases of Briscoe v. Bank of Kentucky,26 and Bank of Kentucky v. Wister.21 although the State in these cases was the exclusive owner of the stock of the bank.