Read “History of Corporations” articles and submit completed study questions. 2) Also, remember that the film, The Corporation, must have been viewed and those study questions should also be individually answered and submitted. It may work better to go to Modules section to view the movie.
PART 1
1. The earliest forms of corporations date back to ______________________?
2. How was the Roman Catholic Church of the Middle Ages similar to today's corporations?
3. What form of business was Andrew Carnegie's steel industry? _________
What form of business was John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil? _________
4. Was the Boston Tea Party similar to the anti-corporate demonstration (the Battle of Seattle) in Seattle in 1999? Explain.
5. From roughly 1810 to 1900, the Supreme Court and State Courts tended to side with ____________, while the state legislatures tended to side with ____________. Fill in the appropriate blank with a) collective bargaining or b) the corporations
6. What was the argument made in one of the papers concerning corporations and "unalienable rights"?
7. In the "Hidden History" article, what are some of the conditions that states placed on corporations in granting their charters?
8. What does the phrase "scaled voting" mean for corporate governance?
9. During the Civil War period, corporations paid people for a role similar to today's lobbyists. They were called _______________?
10. In the case 1886 of Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad (14th Amendment interpretation), is there any doubt that the Supreme Court granted corporations "personhood"? Explain:
PART 2
1. Originally corporations (from approximately 1712-1889) were different from corporations today. How were they different?
2. What was the original purpose of the 14th Amendment? What happened to it?
3. How are corporations different from real people?
4. Define the corporate concept of ‘externalizing costs.' What are the implications of this concept for the common good?
5. In the film, Michael Walker (Executive Director of the Fraser Institute) discussed the implications of the "privatization" of everything. What did he believe that owners would do that justified his reason for believing in such private ownership?
6. In your opinion, is the corporation of today:
a) an important form of enterprise that is vital to the future of the human race.
b) a malignant form of business that, like a slow-growing incurable cancer, will ultimately kill all other forms of enterprise including the free market.
c) both.
Support your opinion with a discussion of the class considerations thus far (early business, the common good, stakeholders, the enterprise triangle, Adam Smith's writing, and the vision of America's founders).