1monopolies

=Period 1=

The Problem(s)

 * Sometimes 2 companies would combine together to form a **trust** that could ruin the small companies, and drive them completely out of business
 * These giant companies could fix the prices of the products to whatever they wanted because they didnt have any other competition
 * All this led to **monopolies** or near monopolies, and monopolies were legal at this time
 * Due to the monopolies, the companies could produce whatever quality goods they wanted
 * Examples of these monopolies or trusts are **Standard Oil,** and US Steel
 * Monopolies and trusts controlled the American economy.

The Solution(s)

 * It was decided that laws should be passed to outlaw companies that become too powerful and control their industry completely
 * **Ida Tarbell** wrote "The History of the Standard Oil Company" in a magazine which ran 19 articles. It told the public about what was going on in John D. Rockefeller's factories.
 * Court decided to break up trusts that used unfair ways to get people and companies out of business.
 * States were supposed to make laws against monopolies and these laws were called **Anti-Trust Laws.**
 * The **Clayton Anti-Trust** act was an act that stengthened the Sherman Antitrust act. There were more restrictions for monopolies and it said that Labor Unions were okay. People should be able to express their opinions about what is happening in factories.

The Images:
This is a political cartoon of an ape that is standing on a rock that says “trusts,” and is crushing a republicanism coin and lady liberty is trying to get him to stop**.** This is a picture of John D Rockefeller, a man who had monopolies on oil companies, and he was one of the richest men of his time. This is a portrait of Ida Tarbell, the woman who wrote, "The history of the Standard Oil Company" to get the truth of Rockefeller's factories out.

The Primary Sources
//In the unanimous decision in////the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, with slight qualifications, a lower court's ruling that Standard Oil violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and required dissolution. However, the Court's decision limited the antitrust legislation by ruling that restraints of trade and monopolies should be broken up only when they were "unreasonable" by a common law standard. This rule of reason confused the issue, which led to new legislation; the rule of reason remained a judicial standard, though, in antitrust suits. SUPREME COURT DECISISON IN Standard Oil VS United States//

[|Clayton Antitrust Act]

The Citationtion:
[|ABC-CLIO] http://www.eagleton.rutgers.edu/e-gov/archive/Trusts.jpg http://www.mehr-freiheit.de/pix/rockefeller.jpg
 * http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF1804/Weinberg/Weinberg01.jpg**