Revisiting the Dartmouth Court Decision: Why the US has Private Nonprofit Agencies Instead of Public Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

Mordecai Lee ()

Public Organization Review, 2007, vol. 7, issue 2, pages 113-142

Abstract: In 1819, the US Supreme Court ruled in Dartmouth v. Woodward that Dartmouth College, even though originally chartered by government, was legally akin to a private corporation. This landmark decision was the founding legal document of what has become the American private nonprofit sector. While the decision has attained hagiographic status, this paper explores what the US nonprofit sector would look like if the Supreme Court had ruled the other way. Using alternate history and scenario writing as research methodologies, it highlights the invisible losses due to the decision and depicts what a public nonprofit sector would have looked like. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Keywords: nonprofit sector; nongovernmental organizations; private nonprofit corporations; Dartmouth court case; historical review; US history (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:porgrv:v:7:y:2007:i:2:p:113-142

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