The Corporation Page #2

want to build abridge

over the Charles River

or something like that.

There were very few

chartered corporations

in early United

States history.

And the ones that existed

had clear stipulations

in their state

issued charters

how long they

could operate

the amount of

capitalization

what they made or did

or maintained

a turnpike whatever was

in their charter

and they didn't

do anything else.

They didn't own or couldn't

own another corporation.

Their shareholders

were liable.

And so on.

In both law and the culture

the corporation was considered

a subordinate entity that was

a gift from the people

in order to serve

the public good.

So you have that history

and we shouldn't

be misled by it

it's not as if these

were the halcyon days

when all corporations

served the public trust

but there's a lot

to learn from that.

The Civil War and the

Industrial Revolution

created enormous growth

in corporations.

And so there was an explosion

of railroads

who got large federal

subsidies of land.

Banking heavily

manufacturing

And corporate lawyers

a century and a half ago

realized that they needed

more power to operate

And wanted to remove some

of the constraints

that had historically been

placed on the corporate form.

The 14th amendment

was passed

at the end of the Civil War

to give equal rights

to black people.

And therefore it said

No state can deprive

any person of life

liberty or property

without due process of law.

And that was intended

to prevent the states

from taking away life

liberty or property

from black people

as they had done

for so much of

our history.

And what happens is the

corporations come into court

and corporation lawyers

are very clever.

And they say

Oh you cant deprive

a person of life

liberty or property.

We are a person.

A corporation is a person.

And so supreme court

goes along with that.

And what was particularly

grotesque about this was

that the 14th amendment

was passed

to protect newly

freed slaves.

So for instance

between 1890 and 1910

there were 307 cases brought

before the court

under the 14th amendment.

288 of these brought

by corporations

19 by African Americans.

600000 people were killed

to get rights for people

and then with strokes of

the pen over the next 30 years

judges applied those rights

to capital and property

while stripping them

from people.

Everybody makes a mistake

once in a while

but I just cant be

personally responsible.

That's one of the weaknesses

of a partnership

isn't it Sid?

Well maybe you'd better

incorporate the store.

Incorporate?!

Yes

Incorporating would give you

the big advantage of

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