From the beginning, the U.S. Constitution has been about the enabling and promotion of business. Here's some history.
- Click here for the article.
The first American corporations were developed in the 1790s, almost instantly becoming key institutions in the young nation's economy. Although corporations existed in Europe in the early 19th century—particularly in Great Britain and the Netherlands—no country took to corporate development like the United States.
Small banking corporations existed in the first years after the American Revolution. However, most historians note that the first important industrial corporation was the Boston Manufacturing Co. in 1813. Its business model was imported from Great Britain, where textile corporations helped spark the first Industrial Revolution some three decades earlier.
Corporations could raise capital from diverse sources, providing an important mechanism for savers and producers alike. Voting rights were much less protected in the early years through processes of "graduating" certain shareholders, but corporations still embodied a new type of investment.
For more on the Boston Manufacturing Company, click here.
