On second thought, the links don’t necessarily give the historical context. Here’s a quick summary.
Corporations were created to permit those with business ambitions to get investors–that’s one part of it anyway. Investors who were strangers to the business weren’t too keen on supporting the business if they thought they could be held liable for the company’s debts. So early corporations were chartered by states for limited purposes. They were permitted to sell shares, which could in turn be traded by investors. What made the shares attractive was that shareholders who weren’t involved in the management of the company had limited liability. The worst they could do was lose their investment.
In order to further protect shareholders, while limiting their direct involvement, states created a form of representation in corporations. Corporations had boards of directors, who were elected by the shareholders. The shareholders met periodically, voted on the board, which hired officers, who hired employees, who did the grunt work, while the officers and directors actually ran the company. If the shareholders didn’t like the way things were going, they could replace the board, which could, in turn appoint new officers, who could change the course of the business.
This was fine for companies that sought investments from strangers, but it was designed for businesses where the owners didn’t run the company.
There was another form of entity called a partnership. Partnerships were owned by the partners, who also ran them. They weren’t subject to the same requirements as corporations. But they also didn’t offer limited liability.
As it became easier to get corporate charters, those whose businesses were like partnerships (Bill and Joe buy a store together and run it–there are no investors) incorporated their businesses in order to limit personal liability. While this was fine in most states, the formalities made it more expensive and sometimes a bit absurd (do I really need to have a board of directors meeting with Joe, who I see every stinking day? Do I need to document the meeting?) This got even crazier when states began permitting single shareholder/director corporations.
LLCs were developed as a solution to some of these problems. LLCs are structured more like partnerships than corporations (no shareholders, no directors) but they offer the limited liability of a corporation.
Sometimes a corporation will better serve the needs of the principals, so it makes sense to talk to a professional while you trying to decide which entity to form.
As I said, this is a quick summary of the history of just one small aspect of the evolution of LLCs, there’s a lot more to it, and I’m probably overgeneralizing and missing stuff.