Imagine a world without corporation, without structure, and without the complexity of the working world today. Some may even think of these corporations and businesses as individuals with the same rights that you and I have as human beings. Those with this frame of mind would not be too far from the truth. Our economic structure and business establishment has grown in such a way over past centuries that we depend on these conglomerates as a foundation of economic stability. In turn, they seek from us the same rights as businesses that we as individuals are granted as citizens of this great country. In the following pages, we will explore this concept further in understanding what Corporate Personhood is and discovering the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee, including the parties involved, reasons for the case, arguments for and against the case, how this historic event relates to current events, and finally how the decision on this case affect our future in the corporate world. In order to better understand how corporate personhood works, it is important to understand where this idea comes from and how it ties into the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee. Corporate personhood finds its initial roots from a debate that Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson had over how centralized the government of the United States should be, how much power the member states should have over their own business, and how much citizens and citizens’ organizations should have in public affairs. According to Wikipedia, “While both Hamilton and Jefferson participated in the creation of the more centralized Federal Government than that in the Articles of Confederation, they had very different visions of government. Hamilton
advocated for a stronger central government, which he believed necessary for an industrialized nation, while Jefferson advocated for a more decentralized, more agrarian nation (Wikipedia, 2).” As US businesses and corporations...