Blog Post #9

The Sherman AntiTrust Act was founded and passed in 1890. The Sherman AntiTrust Act authorized the federal government to institute proceedings against trusts in order to dissolve them. The purpose of The Sherman AntiTrust Act was to promote economic fairness and competitiveness to regulate interstate commerce. The Sherman AntiTrust Act I believe had some valid ideas and points but it didn’t last all too long. The Sherman AntiTrust Act was named for senator John Sherman of Ohio. John Sherman was the chairman of the Senate financial committee and secretary of the treasury under President Hayes. After a decade the Sherman AntiTrust Act was invoked. The Sherman AntiTrust Act was unsuccessful because of the narrow judicial interpretations of what constitutes trade or commerce for all of the states. The Sherman AntiTrust Act outlawed "every contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade," as well as "monopolization, attempted monopolization, or conspiracy or combination to monopolize”. Before it was outlawed the Supreme Court said that The Sherman AntiTrust Act can’t prohibit every trade that is being made. The Sherman AntiTrust Act was made to help smaller businesses and the working class. I think this is one of the greater purposes of The Sherman AntiTrust Act made. The Sherman AntiTrust Act was amended by the Clayton Antitrust Act in 1914. The Clayton Antitrust Act addressed specific practices that The Sherman AntiTrust Act did not ban. At the time when The Sherman AntiTrust Act was first founded and passed, many people were very upset with large corporations like Standard Oil or American Railway Union. These two large corporations were seen as unfairly monopolizing certain industries. A lot of people saw and felt like they were hit with high prices with essential goods. Competitors felt shut out by large corporations to keep other enterprises out of the market. After this started happening, a big shift occurred in American business and marketing. Big business arose in the early 19th century. Some American lawmakers thought the right idea was to regulate business practices more strictly. This is where The Sherman AntiTrust Act comes in. The Sherman AntiTrust Act created new laws and ideas such as the Clayton Act. The Clayton Act came out in 1914 and its objective was to prevent unfair methods of competition in the business world. It banned price discrimination and anti-competeitive merges. The Clayton Act declared strikes, boycotts, and labor unions legal under the federal law. This became widespread and a lot of support until lawmakers wanted to keep the market economy competitive while business is changing. Here are some interesting facts about The Sherman AntiTrust Act. If you violated the Act you could serve a hefty punishment of 10 years prison time as well as paying a fine up to a million dollars for an individual person and 100 million for a corporation. There have been a few of today's companies who have been accused of violating The Sherman AntiTrust Act. Some of these companies including Google, Microsoft, and Apple have all received complaints. The Sherman AntiTrust Act and The Clayton Act both remain in force in America. 

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sherman-antiturst-act.asp