The corporation was the last of the three forms of organization to develop; and it developed only when single enterprisers and partnerships found that they could not, usually on account of insufficient capital, carry on certain kinds of industry to the best advantage. The government then stepped in and created artificial persons, which we know as corporations. The corporation, while it possesses many characteristics of a natural person, such as the ability to make contracts and to sue in the courts, has certain distinctive characteristics of its own. Its life is either limited to a specific number of years, or it is definitely unlimited, there being no uncertainty as in the case of a natural person. Its business operations are restricted to the purposes for which it was organized, and these purposes are stated specifically in its charter. Ordinarily, the manner in which it carries on its business, such as its methods of bookkeeping, is subject to more or less regulation by the government. The owners of a corporation are known as stockholders, who regularly elect a small number of directors from their ranks to manage the business. The directors in turn elect the president, secretary, treasurer, and other officers, to whom they usually delegate the actual management of affairs.