The Corporate Roots of American Constitutionalism

The article analyzes the thesis that the foundations of the American political system grow out of the institutional experiences of early colonial corporations. Before the US Constitution was created, settlers operated within 'chartered company' structures, such as the Virginia Company of London, which combined private functions with administrative and quasi-sovereign ones. These hybrid entities served as a laboratory for mechanisms of delegating competencies, limiting power through founding texts, and managing collective property. The author emphasizes that the early corporation was not merely a capital vehicle but a technology for outsourcing imperial expansion, creating a lasting pattern of relations between the state and autonomous private entities that influenced the subsequent legal and constitutional history of the United States.