Antitrust Law

Illegal trusts are formed by any practice that restrains trade or commerce unduly. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, a small number of corporations and individuals exploited their dominant position in the tobacco, railroad, and steel industries to fix prices, control output, eliminate competitors, and manipulate labor markets. Perceiving a threat to democracy and free trade from companies employing their great wealth and power in these ways, Congress outlawed conspiracies and monopolies that restrain interstate or foreign commerce unreasonably with the Sherman ...