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WhittlingDan t1_j5qtcrw wrote

Reply to comment by corporatestateinc in On Whether “Personhood” is a Normative or Descriptive Concept by ADefiniteDescription

How long have corporations been a concept and how did it start? I read that up until the early 1900s incorporation was something granted to businesses as a temporary status to product them in special circumstances and that businesses were never supposed to be corporations permanently.

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Krasmaniandevil t1_j5qxpdk wrote

Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 17 U.S. 481 (1819) arguably marks the beginning of the shift in sentiment. In colonial America, corporate charters were often time limited and required renewal, but the Dartmouth case essentially recognized the possibility that a corporation could be structured to exist in continuity and that subsequent governments could be limited in their ability to revoke a charter unless the original charter said they could. I'm pretty sure "permanent corporations" were not unusual by the late 19th century, but this isn't my area of expertise.

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kgbking t1_j5sp7gc wrote

>In colonial America

When did America stop being colonial?

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AlanMorlock t1_j5sutnn wrote

Several British colonies declared themselves as states independent from Britain and formed a new country. Fought a whole war about it.

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pgb04001 t1_j5twib8 wrote

Yes, historians often refer to the Colonial Era, The Early Republic, Antebellum, etc., but the US came into existence as a colonial power, expanded across the continent, and then grew in military, economic, and cultural strength. It was and remains a colonial power.

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WhittlingDan t1_j5uox6k wrote

We stoped being British but colonialism is something else. It's the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically. The term country is used loosely and applies to Native American tribes and land.

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AlanMorlock t1_j5upb4a wrote

We remain a settler state but int the way it iwas used "Colonial America" has a pretty commonly understood time frame that it encompasses and its less useful to try to be pedantic about it.

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