The Bill of Rights is a set of 10 amendments that restrict what the federal government can do with respect to citizens. The 14th amendment extends those restrictions from the federal government to include state governments as well. (Since local governments are considered extensions of the state government's jurisdiction, it's included as well).
> IIRC there weren't corporations in the modern sense when the bill of rights was written.
The Virginia Company is a corporation in the modern sense that is literally the origin of the United States. Actually, if anything, corporations have gotten less powerful since the Bill of Rights; we don't have any companies running countries any more.
The Dutch East India Company was a publicly-traded multinational corporation as early as the early 1600s.
Source? The way I read it there doesn't seem to be any such restriction.
IIRC there weren't corporations in the modern sense when the bill of rights was written.