In 1874, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to use the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection to void a clause of the Missouri Constitution denying women the right to vote.
But, in 1894, the Court repeated the notion that corporations were persons within the meaning of the 14th Amendment, and, voided a Texas law regulating railroad rates.
This bias toward capital expressed itself in other ways.
In 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that, while it would allow state laws regulating especially dangerous employment, the Freedom to Contract Clause prevented extending state regulation to workers in general.
And, who decided who would sit on the federal bench? The President and a U.S. Senate appointed by the various state legislatures, composed largely of employers, not elected by the people, a great number of whom were employees.
