[marsh2]

By corporate I mean a body made up of representatives of citizens from many states that acts as one entity - a union - a corporate entity. (Originally, in the days when the dual sovereignty of the States and federal government was stronger and more distinct, the Senate was elected by the State legislators, so the corporate body included representatives from every state.)

This would be different than a Confederation, where the several parties retain their separate identities.

When the original states ceeded ownership of the wastelands, it did so through a deed of cession. There had to be a legal corporate entity to receive ownership of that property. This corporate entity was a federal union of representatives of and from all the states in Congress.

[Carry_Okie]

This corporate entity was a federal union of representatives of and from all the states in Congress.

I think that there is more to it than that. In my deep memory there were some shenanigans pulled in court cases soon after the Civil War that converted the US government into a corporation capable of owning property. It was that corporation that went bankrupt in 1933.