It is with great hope that I pass on a link to Thom Hartmann's
The Deciding Moment: The Theft of Human Rights in case the 'corporations as people' question is as important to you as it is to me in how America has and will proceed.
It was on the afternoon of May 10, 1886 that a sleight-of-hand insertion was added into the record by court reporter, J. C. Bancroft Davis, implying that the 'personhood of corporations' question - in this particular case, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, an industry for which Mr. Davis and other participants had worked and shilled as attorneys - was a part of the Supreme Court's decision handed down that day on
taxation of railroad properties in Santa Clara County, California.
The 'corporations are people' issue was not part of the decision at all, but from there the plot thickens.
Hiding behind the curtain was Justice Field, a 'grand stander' type, a zealot, who had big presidential aspirations and dreamed that his favorite employers, the railroad titans, would soon fork over the dough necessary to fund his White House bid. Yes,
The Mystery of 1886 makes for an interesting saga, so prop up your dogs and check out Mr. Hartmann's excellent article of 12 pp, if you haven't.
Plus, Wikipedia has an entry on the Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company case if you're interested; it mentions that, although Mr. Davis' obiter dictum statement (Latin for 'said by the way') has become part of American corporate law, it is 'an unprecedented extension of constitutional rights to corporations.'
Since an obiter dictum has no legal precedential value, why do we continue pretending it does? is my question.
Also, here's the Wiki bio of
Bancroft Davis for your consideration. He served in many capacities, and 'court reporter' was then on par with the Justices, and was not the lower position of mere stenographer that it is today.
You see, in writing the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 (
wa-a-ay behind the curtain on Capitol Hill), Senator Roscoe Conkling had inserted the word 'person' where the correct legal phrase 'natural person' should have been to describe just who would receive the protections of the amendment, his word a bomb which even now keeps exploding on behalf of corporate titans and their offshore account balances.
I bother because of the extreme importance to the US and to the world of Davis' insertion: for example, between 1908 and 1914, SCOTUS struck down minimum wage, child labor, and workman's compensation laws and utility regulations while citing 'corporate personhood' - in all, 288 suits decided against American workers and consumers.
Mr. Hartmann's article has more details.
May 10, 1886: the 'Corporations Are People' birth chartOnly knowing "afternoon" narrows it down for chart calculation, but doesn't tell us the exact time of the Supreme Court decision on taxing railroad properties with its comments placed therein by Bancroft Davis - possibly in collusion with Justice Field who had presidential ambitions, and using the previous 'unexploded bomb' substituted by former Senator Roscoe Conkling and former Representative John A. Bingham (both railroad lawyers) on the Senate Committee that wrote the Fourteenth Amendment which all this relates to - I shall use a chart set for '2:53 pm pst' in 'San Jose' California, the seat of Santa Clara County.
One may even say that this chart isn't the natal chart of Corporations Are People since the day/hour were merely part of an ongoing legal process. Yet the horoscope maps a moment in time describing the day and proceedings in question so here are a few chart details to consider for 2:53 pm pst, San Jose, CA with World Points at the angles of the chart...
ASC 00Lib01, Jupiter 26Vir17 Rx, Uranus 3Lib59 Rx, so we have a midpoint picture...
Jupiter/Uranus = ASC: an ability to shape one's environment according to one's own ideas; success; fortunate twists in the way things transpire; knowing the best will happen.
Jupiter/Uranus = lucky breaks or breakthroughs. (But it doesn't mean they have to be above-board.)
'2:53 pm' on that day was during a Saturn Hour, good for court proceedings and for consolidation of plans. And Saturn that afternoon 5Can25 was conjunct US natal Jupiter...Saturn to Jupiter is a transit indicating a period of time when economic prospects dry up or are restricted in some way. (Guess the industrial titans fixed that.) One becomes more serious about such issues, so progress is possible as better organization and focus assure future progress and a solid foundation may be laid.
Considering how lucrative this sleight-of-hand by 1880s Republicans has been for American corporatism and the industrial Robber Barons and their spawn--both biological and ideological, I'd say that that was some foundation.
In closing, the Sun Taurus-Moon Leo blend of May 10, 1886 may be of interest as given by master astrologer, Noel Tyl, and paraphrased here:
Two Fixed signs highlight a passionate stubbornness; the energy to build and maintain personal security and comfort feeds into the need to be loved, respected, and honored. There is a strong will which dominates its surroundings to get its way. The temperament is dramatic as dynamic organization is brought to bear on ideas, plans, and relationships.