Monopolies In The 19th Century

The Interstate Commerce Act was passed in 1887, beginning a shift towards federal rather than the state regulation of big business. After the Interstate Commerce Act, the Sherman Antitrust Act was passed. It was the first measure passed by the U.S. Congress with the intention of controlling business and prohibiting trusts. The Sherman Act was the basis for the antitrust policies and laws created by the Progressive Party. During the Progressive Era, Congress created the Bureau of Corporations in 1903. It was set up as an investigatory agency within the Department of Commerce and Labor, with the role of studying and reporting on an industry, looking especially for monopolistic practices. President Theodore Roosevelt’s ideas helped to establish
During Woodrow Wilson’s term, the Clayton Act of 1914 was enacted by Congress to strengthen the antitrust laws that were put into place by the Sherman Act, supplementing the existing laws. Whereas the Sherman Act only declared monopolies as illegal, the Clayton Act defined certain business practices that are conducive to the formation of monopolies or that result from them as illegal. As well as the Clayton Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 was signed into law by Woodrow Wilson in 1913. This established Federal Trade, outlawing unfair methods of competition and unfair acts or practices that affect commerce. Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the New Deal, which had a great impact in government’s power over the economy, helping them to regulate business and fight against the monopolies. During the First New Deal, FDR established the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate stock market investments and prevent insider trading, thus controlling business and guaranteeing that no trust would be