Return to Personhood Index

TIMELINE OF PERSONHOOD RIGHTS
by Rick Beach and Jan Edwards

PEOPLE GAIN OR LOSE RIGHTS
YEAR
CORPORATIONS GAIN
   OR LOSE RIGHTS

NOTE/GENERAL

1776

Revolutionary War begins
Bill of Rights - White males of property over 21 (literacy, poll taxes)
1791
Constitution


1803
Marbury v. Madison - Supreme Court becomes Supreme


1819
Dartmouth College v. Woodward - A corporate charter is a contract and can't be altered by government

Dred Scott - Slaves are Property and Congress cannot deprive citizens of their property. Slaves are not citizens of any State.
1857



1861

Civil War begins
13th Amendment - Slavery abolished
1865


14th Amendment - Black males get equal protection
1868
Paul v. Virginia - Corporations NOT persons under Article IV, Section 2

15th Amendment - Black males vote
1870


Minor v. Happersett - Women seek 14th Amendment but NO - only for black males
1874



1877
Munn V. Illinois - 14th Amendment CANNOT be used to protect corporations from state law, but didn't actually rule on personhood


1886
Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad - Corporations get personhood under the 14th Amendment


1890
Sherman Anti-Trust Act - Sections 7&8 define corporations as persons
Of the 14th Amendment cases brought before Supreme Court between 1890 and 1910, 19 dealt with Negroes, 288 dealt with corporations

1893
Noble v. Union River Logging - 5th Amendment (due process) - first Bill of Rights
Plessy v. Ferguson – “Separate but equal” - black males lose 14th amendment rights
1896


1906
Hale v. Henkle - Corporations get 4th Amendment "search and seizure" protection

1910

19th Amendment - Women get the vote
1920



1925
Gitlow rules constitutional protections for corporations include 14th Amendment, press, speech, and 5th Amendment

Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black challenges corporate personhood - dissent Connecticut General Life Insurance v. Johnson
1938
The Corporation won this case

Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas dissents Wheeling Steel Corporation v. Glander
1949
The Corporation won this case

Brown v. Board of Education - "Separate is not equal"
1954


24th Amendment - No poll taxes
1964


26th Amendment - 18-year-olds vote.
Women included in 14th Amendment
1971



1976
Buckley v. Valeo - money equals speech


1976
US v. Martin Linen Supply - corporation uses 5th Amendment to protect against double jeopardy to avoid retrial in anti-trust case

Slavery is the legal fiction
that a person is property.

Corporate Personhood is the legal
fiction that property is a person.
1976
Virginia Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Consumer Council - Advertising is free speech. [Commercial Speech]


1977
Marshall v. Barlow - 4th Amendment used to thwart federal occupational health and safety inspections


1977
First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti - 1st Amendment used to overturn state restrictions on corporate spending on political referenda




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