No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Illinois Business Incorporations, 1816–1869
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2012
Abstract
Usage of the corporate business form during the frontier period of Illinois history is tabulated in this study as a basis for comparisons with incorporation movements experienced by older and more economically developed states.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1963
References
1 Rostow, W. W., The Stages of Economic Growth (Cambridge, Eng., 1960), pp. 37–38 Google Scholar, places the “tentative, approximate take-off date” for the United States in the period 1843–1860, which was characterized by “positive, sustained, and self-reinforcing” economic advance, with a “higher proportion of potential innovations accepted in a more or less regular flow, and a higher rate of investments.” The economic structure of the Midwest in the period from 1815–1860 is analyzed by North, Douglass C., The Economic Growth of the United States, 1790–1860 (Englewood Cliffs, 1961), especially, Chap. XI, pp. 135–55Google Scholar. Taylor, George R., The Transportation Revolution, 1815–1860 (New York, 1951 Google Scholar) and Gates, Paul W., The Farmer's Age: Agriculture, 1815–1860 (New York, 1960 Google Scholar) detail the revolutions in transportation and agriculture. On pre-Civil War industrial growth see Cochran, Thomas C., “Did the Civil War Retard Industrialization?,” Mississippi Valley Historical Review, vol. XLVIII (September, 1961), pp. 197–210 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
2 A good general discussion of the function, advantages, and role of the corporation in the early history of the United States appears in Kemmerer, D. L. and Jones, C. Clyde, American Economic History (New York, 1959 Google Scholar), Chap. 10, “Growth of Long-Term Capital,” covering the period from 1790 to 1860. See also Kirkland, Edward C., Industry Comes of Age: Business, Labor, and Public Policy, 1860–1897 (New York, 1961 Google Scholar), Chap. X, “The Organization of Production.”
3 Evans, George Heberton Jr., Business Incorporations in the United States, 1800–1943 (New York, 1948)Google Scholar.
4 See Blandi, Joseph G., Maryland Business Corporations, 1783–1852 (Baltimore, 1934)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. This study deals with corporate charters much as has the present writer, but, in addition, Dr. Blandi analyzes the specific charter provisions deemed necessary by entrepreneurs during that period of time. Miller's, William, “A Note on the History of Business Corporations in Pennsylvania, 1800–1860,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. LV (November, 1940), pp. 150–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar, deals with business corporations in Pennsylvania in a statistical manner with little interpretation. Cadman, John W. Jr.'s, The Corporation in New Jersey: Business and Politics, 1791–1875 (Cambridge, 1949)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, analyzes the corporation in its political and social setting with a more detailed description of the characteristics of the charters themselves than Blandi provides. Dodd's, Edwin Merrick, American Business Corporation until 1860 (Cambridge, 1954 Google Scholar), treats the business corporation mainly in a legal sense. The historical development of the legal character of business corporations plus an analysis of the corporation in Massachusetts history is ably presented.
5 Information from Illinois Historical Survey.
6 The statistical data were compiled from a hand-written ledger and from statutes uncovered in the archives of the State of Illinois in Springfield. They were compiled in the course of a broader study designed, in part, to determine the character of the corporate form of business enterprise in Illinois from the time the first charter was granted in 1816 up to 1870 when Illinois adopted its third constitution. All charters for this period were granted by special acts of the Illinois legislature. All dates given are inclusive.
7 Miller's presentation of data for Pennsylvania was adopted for Illinois data in Tables I, II, III, and IV, and in the discussion of the miscellaneous group of charters. Minor changes were made only for added clarity. See Miller, “A Note on the History of Business Corporations in Pennsylvania, 1800–1860,” pp. 150–60.
8 Evans defines a business corporation as an enterprise which was authorized capital stock (Business Incorporations, p. 1). Blandi defines the businees corporation “in a broad sense to include a view toward profits.” (Maryland Business Corporations, p. 9). An enterprise is herein classified as a business corporation when both concepts are present. Arbitrarily excluded on the basis of this criterion are agricultural, educational, health, religious, and sporting corporations.
9 The drainage classification includes only companies whose primary purpose was to improve land for agricultural use.
10 This classification includes only companies whose primary purpose was to improve land for urban development.
11 The Illinois and Michigan Canal Company, Box 28, File 1035 (Archives of the Illinois Department of State. All charters hereafter referred to will be from this location).
12 The Illinois and Michigan Canal Company charter (1825) stipulated a toll rate of three cents per mile for state produced or manufactured goods. Six cents per mile was the rate for goods coming into Illinois from another state.
13 Laws of the State of Illinois, 1837, p. 38. Pease, Theodore C., The Frontier State, 1818–1848 (Springfield, 1918), vol. II, pp. 194–215 Google Scholar, has an excellent discussion of internal improvements in Illinois. Krenkel, John H., Illinois Internal Improvements, 1818–1848 (Cedar Rapids, 1958 Google Scholar) covers essentially the same ground as Pease although in more detail.
14 Laws of the State of Illinois, 1824, pp. 13–14. Similar laws were enacted earlier by New York and New Jersey, cf. Laws of State of New York, 34th Session, 1811, pp. 151–52 and Laws of State of New Jersey, 40th Session, 2nd sit., p. 17.
15 This general incorporation law remained in force until March 5, 1833. The six manufacturing companies for 1833 (see Table IV) all received their charters before this law was repealed. Investigation of financial records kept by the secretary of state during that eight-year period did not reveal any 75-cent entries for filing incorporation papers. Moreover, up to about the Civil War, at least, the Illinois legislature viewed general laws as not legalizing a corporation until the legislature specifically acted upon each charter. For example, the Comanche, Albany, and Mendota Railroad Company was formed on September 11, 1856, by filing articles of incorporation with the secretary of state in accordance with provisions of the general railroad incorporation law of November 5, 1849. On January 30, 1857, the Illinois legislature acknowledged that the railroad company had become incorporated under the general law of 1849 and that therefore, “All of the acts done and contracts entered into by said company, prior to the passage of this act, are hereby sanctioned and legalized.” Private Laws of Illinois, 20th General Assembly, January 30, 1857, pp. 109–110. It may be concluded that general laws could only be used in conjunction with special legislation and not by themselves. The general manufacturing law of 1824 may have been viewed in this light and consequently not used. No reference is made to this law in any special legislation.
16 Alton Marine and Fire Insurance Company, February 7, 1835. Box 43, File 1781.
17 Shawneetown Insurance Company, January 13, 1836, Box 45, File 1889.
18 Morgan County Mutual Fire Insurance Company, January 11, 1836, Box 45, File 1888.
19 Blandi, Maryland Business Corporations, p. 24.
20 Hammond, Bray, Banks and Politics in America (Princeton, 1957), pp. 605–630 Google Scholar.
21 Bank of Illinois Charter (Illinois State Archives, Springfield, Illinois).
22 State Constitution of Illinois, Art. VIII, Sec. I.
23 Bicknell's Reporter, vol. XIV (March 19, 1844), p. 1, listed: Bank of Illinois with five branches; State Bank of Illinois of Springfield, Illinois, with nine branches; Bank of Cairo; Illinois Savings Bank; Manufacturer's Bank of Illinois; Merchants & Planters Bank (Chicago); Exporting, Mining & Manufacturing Company (Jacksonville).
24 Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio data from Evans, Business Incorporations, p. 12. New Jersey data from Cadman, Corporation in New Jersey, p. 208. Maryland data from Blandi, Maryland Business Corporations, p. 14. Pennsylvania data from Miller, “A Note on the History of Business Corporations in Pennsylvania, 1800–1860,” pp. 150–60. Illinois data from Illinois State Archives, Springfield, Illinois.