The earliest corporations started around the 16^th or 17^th century Europe, during capitalism’s infancy. There are many differences between the first corporations and the corporations we know today. Back then, corporations were started to benefit the state, or the public. A state would grant a corporate charter (or the formal right to exist) and investors would put their money into this newly created company. The United States was settled by one such corporation, the Massachusetts Bay Company, which King Charles I chartered in 1628 to colonize the new world. Fast forwarding to 1787, fewer than 40 corporations operated in the U.S. By 1880, that number had grown to 334. These also were typically chartered to perform specific public functions, such as digging canals, building bridges, or constructing turnpikes. By 1886, though, things started to change. In the case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a private corporation is a person and is entitled to the legal rights and protections the constitution affords to any person. In other words, the corporation emerged as a legal person with the same rights. While today unions, churches, governments, and small unincorporated businesses do no have human rights, corporations alone have moved into this category. In many states, it was a felony for corporations to give money to politicians, political parties, or try to influence elections. Today corporations have claimed the human right of free speech, expanded that to mean the unlimited right to put corporate money into politics, and have thus taken control of our major political parties and politicians. States and local communities had laws to protect and nurture entrepreneurs and local businesses, and to keep out companies htat had been convicted of crime. After 1886, multi-state corporations claimed such laws were discrimination under the 14^th amendment and go such laws struck down, local communities can no longer stop a predatory corporation. Corporations used to be chartered for a single purpose, had to also serve the public good, and had fixed life spans. After 1886, corporations lobbied states to change corporate charter laws to eliminate “public good” from charters, to allow multiple purposes, and to exist forever. Today, of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations; only 49 are countries.

When it comes to corporate responsibility, what one has to understand is that today corporations are designed to be concerned only for the stockholders. Today they are driven by the profit motive. This explains why corporations move their jobs overseas. The less they spend on worker wages, the more money the CEOs get. The less they spend on safety, the more money they get, and so on. Corporations seek out cheaper and cheaper places where wages are cheaper and environmental, safety, and other regulatory measures are less or non-existent.

There is a list that came out in December 2004 of the 10 worst corporations of 2004. One of the corporations that made the list was Dow Chemical. At midnight on December 2, 1984, 27 tons of lethal gases leaked from Union Carbide’s pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, immediately killing an estimate 8,000 people and poisoning thousands of others. Today in Bhopal, at least 150,000 people, including children born to parents who survived the disaster are suffering from exposure-related health effects such as cancer, neurological damage, and mental illness. Over 20,000 people are forced to drink water with unsafe levels of mercury and other persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals. Today many people around the world, including human rights, legal, environmental health, and other experts, are demanding that Dow Chemical, the current owner of Union Carbide, be held accountable. Twenty years after this disaster, the company responsible for this catastrophe and its former executives are still fugitives from justice. Union Carbide and its former chairman, Warren Andersen, were charged with manslaughter for the deaths in Bhopal, but they refuse to appear before the Indian courts. Dow claims they have no responsibility for the Bhopal disaster because they didn’t own Union Carbide back then, and that they are focusing on strengthening safety standards and community awareness. But the damage has already been done. Who will take responsibility for the deaths caused by the gas leak? The people of Bhopal say Dow should. I believe that since Union Carbide is now owned by Dow, then Dow should have some measure or responsibility to the survivors of the incident, the environment, and the thousands left dead. If Dow doesn’t take responsibility, and Union Carbide is owned by Dow, and the former executives are still fleeing from justice, who will be held accountable?