In 1606, the work of three men culminated in the establishment of the Virginia Company. Like many corporate proceedings, the execution of the charter by King James the First at Whitehall was a rather administrative affair. History doesn't record a grand ceremony with witnesses. But the moment of approval was the product of years of lobbying. First among the founders of the Virginia Company was Richard Hakluyt, the visionary. A clergyman by profession he was a tireless supporter of English colonization in the New World. For decades he had written pamphlets, treatises and countless personal letters arguing for an effort to establish a colony in North America. Sir Thomas Smythe, a wealthy London merchant, was the financier. He led fundraising efforts that resulted in the accumulation of £75,000 from some 1,684 named "adventurers." Considering England's GDP at the time relative to America's current economy, this seemingly modest sum would be equivalent to a $1.14 billion dollar IPO. Finally there was Sir Edwin Sandys, a Member of Parliament. We could consider him the founding reformer, the one who executes the pivot and makes the venture work. It was his attention to practical matters that later reorganized the colony away from the founding business model of gold and silver mining (note: there was no gold or silver to be found in the Virginia lowlands) and towards the cultivation of sweet tobacco with a policy of 50-acre land grants to encourage migration. The Virginia Company charter, which preceded the Massachusetts Bay Company charter by 23 years, was, in a very real sense, American's first foundational document. In many ways it can also be considered the most successful commercial venture in all of human history.

On this 4th of July it's worth reflecting that America was founded by a joint stock corporation. It was a voluntary association of individuals who pooled capital. They consented to their forms of governance. They were joined for productive enterprise; the construction of farms, roads, towns, trade networks, and the expansion of population. They entered into the association knowing it was not without a significant amount of risk.

Indeed the Virginia colony came perilously close to failure several times in its early history, including one notable episode in 1610 when the Jamestown colonists were forced to resort to cannibalism to survive the winter. During the spring of that year the remaining colonists decided to abandon the settlement and board their ships for England. They were met in the mouth of the James River by Lord De La Warr, the incoming governor, who refused their voyage, ordered their return, and promptly turned them around back to Jamestown.

It's amazing to consider how all the elements of the American national character were so explicitly present from the very first days of America's history. The Massachusetts Bay colony reflects these elements too. Although in popular history the religious motivations of the Plymouth colony tend to overshadow its commercial elements, it shouldn't be forgotten that Boston was founded for trade: shipbuilding, whaling, and world-spanning ocean shipping. Yankee merchants were renowned all over the world for their enterprise and especially their thrift.

After these foundings which set her early character, America's early colonial history was one of conflict between the commercial aspirations of the colonists and the restrictions of the Crown. England was a mercantile empire. In practice this meant that raw goods were shipped from colonies to the homeland in exchange for finished goods. Each European empire sought to restrict trade to its own sphere of influence. English colonies were only permitted to trade with England, French with French, Spanish with Spanish, etc. In reality there was a good deal of smuggling but this could be severely punished, and as the colonies grew it became increasingly evident to the colonists that their commerce could never grow to its full potential if they were restricted from foreign markets. This was why the War for Independence actually began in Massachusetts: Yankee shippers stood the most to lose from restrictions on their trade. But these desires were common to all thirteen Colonies, and when the Declaration was signed in 1776, "cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world" was listed prominently above "imposing Taxes ... without our Consent" in Jefferson's list of grievances.

Once the War for Independence was won, the limits on the American enterprise were completely lifted. The first citizens of the United States were able to behold within their reach a vast and rich continent, and free travel of all the world's seas. The corporate form and the tough, inventive, fair minded, and profit focused American people who gave it life were about to boom. To bowdlerize Cormac McCarthy: "Before America, the joint stock corporation was. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner."

Indeed, to name the history of America's first great companies is to walk through the history of American industrialization, expansion, and growth on the global stage. DuPont chemicals, Bank of New York financing, John Deere tractors, B&O railways, Remington guns. Later during the machine age: General Electric, Standard Oil, and the Ford Motor Company. These were the companies that laid down America's infrastructure needed to bridge a wild continent, that armed her soldiers, that provided sewing machines and blue jeans and light bulbs to her great middle class. It was the American corporate form, shaken off from its colonial restrictions that enabled Americans to harness the resources of a great continent, financialize them, put them to productive use, and ship them all over the world. It was companies that built America into the world-straddling colossus that she would become by the end of the Second World War in the middle of the 20th century.

Below is a list of historically significant American companies, beginning with the Virginia Company. It's notable how many are still in operation despite their age. Their legacy is still being strongly felt today. In many ways we are still Virginia and Massachusetts, a nation of companies.

Happy Independence Day 🇺🇸

Corporate History of America