Harvard's first corporation was not built on prestige but on desperation. The young college had nearly collapsed after its first president, Nathaniel Eaton, was dismissed in 1639 for brutality toward students and embezzlement of institutional funds. Eaton had beaten students with walnut-tree cudgels and his wife had fed them spoiled food. The college was left without leadership, without funds, and with a damaged reputation that threatened its survival. In 1650, the Massachusetts Bay Colony General Court granted Harvard a formal charter establishing the Harvard Corporation, officially titled the President and Fellows of Harvard College. The charter created a self-perpetuating governing body of seven members, the president and six fellows, with authority to manage the college's property, appoint officers, and make rules for governance. This was the first legal corporation in the Americas. The structure was modeled loosely on English collegiate corporations, particularly those at Oxford and Cambridge, but adapted to the circumstances of a Puritan colony where institutional stability could not be taken for granted. The corporation's legal status gave Harvard an institutional permanence that transcended the terms of individual leaders and the fluctuations of colonial politics. It could own property, enter contracts, and sue in court, capabilities that were essential for a college's survival in an environment where political and religious upheaval was constant. The charter has been amended but never replaced. The Harvard Corporation continues to govern the university today, making it the oldest continuous corporate body in the Western Hemisphere. Its seven-member structure survived the American Revolution, the Civil War, two world wars, and the transformation of Harvard from a small Puritan seminary into one of the largest research universities in the world.