1. School House Rock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EISWIY9bG8

2. the people rule democracy Democracy Republic From Greek:
Demos (the people) + Kratia (power) =
the people rule
Democracy
Republic
Shutterstock ID: Sheep ; Alpaca

3. “People” – What did the Founders mean?
POCLAD:

4. The Ideal: “We the People” govern ourselves
RIGHTS
Sovereign
Private
Rulers!
Ruled
Government
DUTIES
Accountable
Public
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Wolf - Dreamstime.com ID:

5. Framework: Constitution & Bill of Rights
Paper doll circle – Shutterstock ID:
Checks & Balances
Legislative Congress
Executive President & agencies
Judiciary Supreme Court

6. Timeline of Rights, Powers & Privileges
amendment
formal rule change PEOPLE! (Congress) 1
act
a bill passed into
law by government
Congress & President 2
internal threat: weakness in a system that can destroy it
POCLAD:
Supreme Court vector – Shutterstock ID:
lawsuit
court decides how to interpret the law
Courts 3

7. 1789–1791: Founding documents What’s next? “A Republic, madam,
if you can keep it.”
~ Benjamin Franklin
1789
What’s next?
We think that people without legal rights will:
And that people with legal rights will:
5 generations of slaves
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8. Of kings & corporations
A group of persons with a legal license or charter to do business
Exploit the new world
Collect taxes
Pass laws
Raise armies
Shutterstock ID: King ; tea party vector
National Portrait Gallery, London

9. How to control corporations?
RIGHTS
“We the People”
Founders dilemma:
How to control corporations?
Corporate Contract
Government
DUTIES
Public service
Rules!
No politics
Rules!
Expiry date
Wolf - Dreamstime.com ID:
Shutterstock ID: grocer , baker , cobbler
Rules!
Cancel charter
Follow the rules!

10. √ Person(s) 25 People 7 Citizen 8 African Americans 0 Women 0
Corporation 0 √
Cartoon: Permission from Wuerker
“artificial person”

11. 1803 Concept of “judicial review” Supreme Court is supreme
QUESTION: What happens when an Act of Congress conflicts with the U.S. Constitution?
Legislative
Executive
Judiciary
Supreme Court is supreme
Marbury v. Madison
1803
Supreme Court vector - Shutterstock ID:

12. 1819 Corporations gain “standing” in the Constitution
Question: Could a state legislature interfere with a charter?
In the absence of royal rule, contracts rule!
Dartmouth v. Woodward
1819
Supreme Court vector - Shutterstock ID:

13. 1800–1820: Balance of power shifts
“This country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, then by corruption, its necessary consequence.
The engine of consolidation will be the federal judiciary, the other two branches the corrupting and corrupted instruments.”
~ Thomas Jefferson, 1821
What’s next?
We think that the Supreme Court will
and that corporations will .

14. 1820–1880s: Clash of values
Shutterstock ID: Abolitionists , Civil War soldiers , textile mill worker , Suffragists

15. Civil War Amendments & Acts
13th
Reconstruction era, free in swamp Shutterstock ID:
Reconstruction era, prison labor, Library of Congress ID: det4a10700v
14th
15th
Civil Rights Acts

16. Courts: Who or what is a “person”?
14th Amendment: “… nor shall any State… deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of laws.”
Persons
Corporations
19 Cases
288 Cases
Cartoon, robber baron –

17. The court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the … 14th Amendment... equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations.
We are all of opinion that it does.
~ Justice Morrison Waite
14th
Artificial persons have equal protection to real people
Supreme Court - Shutterstock ID:
Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad
1886

18. RIGHTS DUTIES “We the People” Government Sovereign Private Accountable
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Wolf - Dreamstime.com ID:
Accountable
Public