However, during the late 19th-century Gilded Age, clever corporate lawyers hijacked this civil rights amendment, arguing that a corporation was also a “person” entitled to the exact same constitutional protections.
This legal maneuvering culminated in the Supreme Court’s controversial 1886 Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad decision, which effectively recognized corporate personhood.
By absorbing rights meant for human beings, corporations secured the constitutional shields of real citizens, but because they are artificial legal entities, they lack a human conscience—allowing them to legally prioritize profit maximization above public morals, social responsibility, or human empathy.
