The document discusses the history of corporations in America from the colonial era to present day. It notes that at the time of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, only six non-bank business corporations existed. While the founders saw corporations as tools for public good like infrastructure projects, over time corporations gained more legal rights and protections through court rulings and state statutes. By the late 1800s, corporations had achieved perpetual existence, limited liability for shareholders, and other quasi-rights that established them as powerful institutions that now influence behavior and are a force on earth.

1. The History and Future
of the American
Corporation
Jeff Mendelsohn
New Leaf Paper

2. In a three‐hour period, the Bostonians turned
approximately 120,000 pounds of dry tea into “harbor tea.”
So much was dumped that the tea piled up in the shallow
water and threatened to spill back onto the decks.

3. You can read the Constitution
from front to back, including
all the amendments added
to the document to the present day,
and not see a single instance
of the word “corporation.”

4. The DNA of corporate code
Influences behavior.
Corporations are the most
powerful force on earth.
Let’s harness this power for good.

5. Ancient Forests and the Paper Industry
• 80% of the world’s large tracts
of ancient forests have already
been logged.
• 76 countries have lost all of
their original forest cover
• 1/3 of all trees logged are used
for paper production
• Global paper consumption is
expected to double in the next
15 years
SOURCE: www.marketsinitiative.org

6. Our mission is to inspire
~ through our success ~
a fundamental shift toward sustainability
in the paper industry.
© 2008 New Leaf Paper. All rights reserved. New Leaf Paper www.newleafpaper.com 888-989-5323

7. We have a saying at New Leaf
“There are no bad people,
there are only bad situations.”
The current DNA of the corporation
is a bad situation.
Sustainable brands?
All brands should be sustainable.

8. Who came up with our corporate code?
How has it evolved over time?

9. The corporate form, characterized by a
charter and joint‐stock ownership, was
not the typical way businesses were
organized in the colonies.
Most businesses were owned by families
or partnerships. They had no corporate
charters, nor did they need them.

10. • At the time of the Constitutional Convention in
1787, only six business corporations other than
banks existed in the United States:
– one for organizing a fishery in New York
– one for conducting trade in Pennsylvania
– one for conducting trade in Connecticut
– one for operating a wharf in Connecticut
– one for providing fire insurance in Pennsylvania
– one for operating a pier in Boston

11. • Their vision was to subordinate corporations to
democratic oversight, then make use of this tamed
institution as a tool for meeting the pent‐up need
for infrastructure such as roads and bridges.
• Such a notion of “good” corporations derived
directly from the experience of Washington and
Franklin, among others.

12. • James Madison twice proposed putting the federal
government in charge of corporations “in cases
where the public good may require them and the
authority of a single state may be incompetent.”

13. • At the time of the Constitutional Convention in
1787, only six business corporations other than
banks existed in the United States:
– one for organizing a fishery in New York
– one for conducting trade in Pennsylvania
– one for conducting trade in Connecticut
– one for operating a wharf in Connecticut
– one for providing fire insurance in Pennsylvania
– one for operating a pier in Boston

14. 1809. Virginia Supreme Court
Stated that a charter should not be
granted if the applicant’s
“object is merely private or selfish;
if it is detrimental to,
or not promotive of, the public good….”

15. Anti‐corporate sentiment should not be
confused with anti‐business sentiment.
In the public mind, the use
of the corporate form was associated
with monopoly privileges
of one sort of another.

16. QUASI-RIGHT AVAILABLE AVAILABLE TO WHEN?
TO PEOPLE? CORPORATIONS?
Limited liability No Gradual statutory revision 1820-
for shareholders by states 1900
Perpetual existence No Switch by states from late
custom charters to general 1800s
incorporation
Virtual location No New Jersey general incorporation 1889
law
Indefinite entity or No New Jersey general incorporation 1889
“shape shifting” law
Protection from No Judicial revision of 1850-
lawsuits common law tort; statutory present
immunities for particular
industries

17. The DNA of corporate code
influences behavior.
Corporations are the most
powerful force on earth.
Let’s harness this power for good.