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Thread: Our Hidden History of Corporations in the United States

  1. #1

    Our Hidden History of Corporations in the United States

    Our Hidden History of Corporations in the United States

    When American colonists declared independence from England in 1776, they also freed themselves from control by English corporations that extracted their wealth and dominated trade. After fighting a revolution to end this exploitation, our country’s founders retained a healthy fear of corporate power and wisely limited corporations exclusively to a business role. Corporations were forbidden from attempting to influence elections, public policy, and other realms of civic society.

    Initially, the privilege of incorporation was granted selectively to enable activities that benefited the public, such as construction of roads or canals. Enabling shareholders to profit was seen as a means to that end. The states also imposed conditions (some of which remain on the books, though unused) like these*:

    • Corporate charters (licenses to exist) were granted for a limited time and could be revoked promptly for violating laws.
    • Corporations could engage only in activities necessary to fulfill their chartered purpose.
    • Corporations could not own stock in other corporations nor own any property that was not essential to fulfilling their chartered purpose.
    • Corporations were often terminated if they exceeded their authority or caused public harm.
    • Owners and managers were responsible for criminal acts committed on the job.
    • Corporations could not make any political or charitable contributions nor spend money to influence law-making.


    For 100 years after the American Revolution, legislators maintained tight control of the corporate chartering process. Because of widespread public opposition, early legislators granted very few corporate charters, and only after debate. Citizens governed corporations by detailing operating conditions not just in charters but also in state constitutions and state laws. Incorporated businesses were prohibited from taking any action that legislators did not specifically allow.

    States also limited corporate charters to a set number of years. Unless a legislature renewed an expiring charter, the corporation was dissolved and its assets were divided among shareholders. Citizen authority clauses limited capitalization, debts, land holdings, and sometimes, even profits. They required a company’s accounting books to be turned over to a legislature upon request. The power of large shareholders was limited by scaled voting, so that large and small investors had equal voting rights. Interlocking directorates were outlawed. Shareholders had the right to remove directors at will.

    In Europe, charters protected directors and stockholders from liability for debts and harms caused by their corporations. American legislators explicitly rejected this corporate shield. The penalty for abuse or misuse of the charter was not a plea bargain and a fine, but dissolution of the corporation.

    In 1819 {NOTE: BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR AND THE 14TH AMENDMENT} the U.S. Supreme Court tried to strip states of this sovereign right by overruling a lower court’s decision that allowed New Hampshire to revoke a charter granted to Dartmouth College by King George III. The Court claimed that since the charter contained no revocation clause, it could not be withdrawn. The Supreme Court’s attack on state sovereignty outraged citizens. Laws were written or re-written and new state constitutional amendments passed to circumvent the (Dartmouth College v Woodward) ruling. Over several decades starting in 1844, nineteen states amended their constitutions to make corporate charters subject to alteration or revocation by their legislatures. As late as 1855 it seemed that the Supreme Court had gotten the people’s message when in Dodge v. Woolsey it reaffirmed state’s powers over “artificial bodies.”

    But the men running corporations pressed on. Contests over charter were battles to control labor, resources, community rights, and political sovereignty. More and more frequently, corporations were abusing their charters to become conglomerates and trusts. They converted the nation’s resources and treasures into private fortunes, creating factory systems and company towns. Political power began flowing to absentee owners, rather than community-rooted enterprises.

    The industrial age forced a nation of farmers to become wage earners, and they became fearful of unemployment–a new fear that corporations quickly learned to exploit. Company towns arose. and blacklists of labor organizers and workers who spoke up for their rights became common. When workers began to organize, industrialists and bankers hired private armies to keep them in line. They bought newspapers to paint businessmen as heroes and shape public opinion. Corporations bought state legislators, then announced legislators were corrupt and said that they used too much of the public’s resources to scrutinize every charter application and corporate operation.

    Government spending during the Civil War brought these corporations fantastic wealth. Corporate executives paid “borers” to infest Congress and state capitals, bribing elected and appointed officials alike. They pried loose an avalanche of government financial largesse. During this time, legislators were persuaded to give corporations limited liability, decreased citizen authority over them, and extended durations of charters.

    Attempts were made to keep strong charter laws in place, but with the courts applying legal doctrines that made protection of corporations and corporate property the center of constitutional law, citizen sovereignty was undermined. As corporations grew stronger, government and the courts became easier prey. They freely reinterpreted the U.S. Constitution and transformed common law doctrines.

    One of the most severe blows to citizen authority arose out of the 1886 {NOTE: AFTER THE CIVIL WAR} Supreme Court case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad. Though the court did not make a ruling on the question of “corporate personhood,” thanks to misleading notes of a clerk, the decision subsequently was used as precedent to hold that a corporation was a “natural person.” This story was detailed in “The Theft of Human Rights,” a chapter in Thom Hartmann’s recommended book Unequal Protection.

    From that point on, the 14th Amendment, enacted to protect rights of freed slaves, was used routinely to grant corporations constitutional “personhood.” Justices have since struck down hundreds of local, state and federal laws enacted to protect people from corporate harm based on this illegitimate premise. Armed with these “rights,” corporations increased control over resources, jobs, commerce, politicians, even judges and the law.

    A United States Congressional committee concluded in 1941, “The principal instrument of the concentration of economic power and wealth has been the corporate charter with unlimited power….”

    [continued...]

    (More/Source)

    Related:


    P.S. It was always 'code'. Perhaps the Civil War was 100% about slavery afterall, as in, removing restrictions on corporations that prevented enslavement of Americans.
    Last edited by allodial; 09-27-15 at 05:24 AM.
    All rights reserved. Without prejudice. No liability assumed. No value assured.

    "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius
    "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter." Proverbs 25:2
    Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Thess. 5:21.

  2. #2
    hi alodial,

    I was just thinking about corporations.. specifically I was wondering where they actually started. like, what was the first one ever?

    it seems there is a data war going on between the living and the dead to me. (mankind vs corporations) so I wonder where this started and how it ends?

    this is a fight for survival of mankind! we are facing extinction if we do not end this madness! that is what I can forsee happening beyond my lifetime.

  3. #3
    “Small scale is critical to local life, to the ability of local people to control what happens where they live.” - Paul Weyrich

    Must be why this man is being fought every step of the way and why he wrote the book, "Everything I Want to Do is Illegal" http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/096...=1&*entries*=0

    Polyface Farms

    The most fundamental control people should have is the ability to self-sustain locally. This speaks directly to the OP; the desire to control a populace ultimately means usurping man's inherent right and ability to grow food, raise crops and/or tend animals, or to support local farmers who serve a community's needs to that end.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by george View Post

    this is a fight for survival of mankind! we are facing extinction if we do not end this madness! that is what I can forsee happening beyond my lifetime.

    This "fight", george, is simply the "self governing" vs. the "hive mind"....and is actually a spiritual battle as evidenced by Eph 6:12. That war has already been won at the Cross 2000 years ago, so the battle is for our eternal souls....and you have a choice in that. Humbly ask Yeshua into your life, love Him with all your heart, and soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Then your primary focus becomes leading others to Christ...in word & in deed. Lead that life of service m'friend, and you've got nothing to worry about.....everything else will play out just like it's supposed to.

    Eventually, at some point in time, [corruptible] mankind as we presently know it does become extinct, to be replaced by a new heaven and a new earth (Rev 21). It is written (1 Cor 2:9) --> "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND WHICH HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." .....indescribable, I'd say....

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by george View Post
    hi alodial,

    I was just thinking about corporations.. specifically I was wondering where they actually started. like, what was the first one ever?
    The Registry is the first one.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by george View Post
    I was just thinking about corporations.. specifically I was wondering where they actually started. like, what was the first one ever?
    Corporations are often traced back to ancient Rome (i.e. "Roman Colleges") (or even "municipal communes"). It might be that where corporations are prevalent, attorneys must necessarily be. "Priesthood" of managing the bridge between the living and the dead. To be quite frank, a study of corporations could very much potentially cross over into the topic of egregores, black magic and necromancy.

    Fortunately its easy to study the history of corporate law via free online books such as this one: Business Organization and Combination (from 1921) (link direct to page that starts a detailed historical sketch).

    Related (refers to corporations and New York City):
    Last edited by allodial; 09-27-15 at 06:14 PM.
    All rights reserved. Without prejudice. No liability assumed. No value assured.

    "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius
    "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter." Proverbs 25:2
    Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Thess. 5:21.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by walter View Post
    The Registry is the first one.
    hi walter,
    can you provide more details about that?

    there has to be a record of the first I would think, I doubt they could exist without a record. something tells me that they are all connected somehow and spawned from the original one so if that can be determined and then eradicated all the rest might just fall like dominoes?

    maybe this is something that has to happen one man at a time though?

    I have to thank Karl Lentz for bringing this to my attention the most, he goes on about being a man and how that is so powerful becasue the corporations have no true standing, testimony, voice, etc.

    comprehending these corporations has to be a major key in all this mess we find ourselves in. I really want to learn the who/what/how/when about the original. I suspect that road will lead to rome as usual but can we map it?

    thanks

  8. #8
    All rights reserved. Without prejudice. No liability assumed. No value assured.

    "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius
    "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter." Proverbs 25:2
    Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Thess. 5:21.

  9. #9
    For there is no respect of persons with God. It will not come into consideration THATS WHY PERSONS ARE HEATHEN HELLENISTIC ACTORS , at the day of ones PRIVATE judgement, Matters none of what nation men are; or from what parents they are descended; nor in what state and condition they have lived in this world winners or losers ; nor will it be asked to what sect they have belonged, and by what denomination they have been called; or whether they have conformed to such and such externals and rituals in religion Temple or PAPAL BULLS; but only whether they are righteous men or sinners IN proper PERSONA acting accordingly as they appear under these characters judgment will proceed. on works & deeds. Caesar Augustus taxed, enrolled, registered,NUMBERED the Roman World one can thank the Greek persona as relating to courts of judicature, where persons presiding are to have no regard to the faces of men,No Standing or recognition dead actors. but do that which is strictly just between man and man; and does not respect matters of grace and free favour, such as giving alms, forgiving debts, &credit. A judge, as such, is to regard no man's person, but to proceed in matters before him, according to the rules of law and justice; should he do otherwise, he would be chargeable with being a respect er of persons; now a REGISTERED NAME is JUST ANOTHER PERSON or do you have to be chargeable as in claiming and its RESPECT ER but then he may bestow alms on what objects he pleases; and forgive one man who is personally indebted to him, and not another, without any such imputation. This, applied to the case in hand, abundantly clears it; for though God, as a Judge, respects no man's person; yet in matters of grace he distinguishes one person from another, as it is plain he does by the bounties of his Providence. Besides, God is not bound to any person by any laws, but acts as a Sovereign; he is not moved by anything in the creature; as his choice is not confined to persons of any particular nation, family, sex, or condition, so neither does it proceed upon anything, or a foresight of anything in them, or done by them; and as there is no worthiness in them that are chosen, and saved above others, so no injury is done to the rest: add to all this, that those that are saved by virtue of electing grace, are saved in a way of righteousness agreeably to the holy law, and strict justice of God; so that no complaint can be made against the distinguishing methods of grace, upon the foot of strict justice. The cut and pace job is a reflection of how a Man gets treated bye another Man .only God judges character if a persons dead its without character

  10. #10
    "Corporations are often traced back to ancient Rome (i.e. "Roman Colleges") (or even "municipal communes"). It might be that where corporations are prevalent, attorneys must necessarily be. "Priesthood" of managing the bridge between the living and the dead. To be quite frank, a study of corporations could very much potentially cross over into the topic of egregores, black magic and necromancy."

    That is one interesting post. Most lawyers would like to be judges, and like I have always said, they don't wear black robes for nothing!

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