What was passed in 1890 to address the issue of monopolies and cartels in all industries?

The history of the Clayton Antitrust Act goes back over 20 years prior to passage of the law. In an effort to prevent anticompetitive practices, Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. This was the first Federal law outlawing practices that were harmful to consumers and looked to prevent or curtail monopolies, cartels, and trusts. One of the consequences of that law was a wave of mergers and impacts on Labor.

Then came the Pujo Committee, a congressional subcommittee of the House Committee on Banking and Currency that was formed to investigate the so-called "money trust" that held hearings in 1912 and 1913. The findings of the investigation led to several changes including the ratification of the 16th Amendment, the passage of the Federal Reserve Act, and a movement to further strengthen antitrust laws.

Representative Henry De Lamar Clayton Jr. a Democrat from Alabama introduced H. R. 15657, the Clayton Antitrust Act (Pub.L. 63–212, 38 Stat. 730) in 1914 as An Act To supplement existing laws against unlawful restraints and monopolies, and for other purposes.

It sought to prevent anticompetitive practices even earlier by targeting price discrimination, limit further mergers & acquisitions, and limit membership on boards of companies in particular situations. The Act also had a provision for any contemplated mergers and acquisitions in certain situations. The Law was passed on October 08, 1914.

The Sherman Antitrust Act, the Clayton, and the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 are the foundation of antitrust laws in the United States and are codified in Title 15 of the United States Code. Later revisions to antitrust law came with the passage of the Robinson-Patman Act of 1936 and Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (PDF, 2.5 MB).

Print Resources

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to digital content are provided when available.

• Amendments to Sherman antitrust law and related matters. Hearings before subcommittees of the committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, together with briefs and memoranda submitted in connection therewith during the sixtieth, sixty-first, and sixt by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary

  Call Number: KF26 .J8 1914c

  Published/Created: 1914

  Hearings held June 5-6, 1914, January 1, 1914, April 23, 1908, January 27, 1910, February 16, 1912, June 11, 1912.

• Money trust investigation. Investigation of financial and monetary conditions in the United States under House resolutions nos.429 and 504, before a subcommittee of the Committee on Banking and Currency by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Banking and Currency

  Call Number: KF27 .B3 1912a

  Published/Created: 1913

  Available online from Hathi Trust External
  Available online from the St. Louis Federal Reserve FRASER External project.
  This is the printed report of the Committee and comes in many parts/files and includes written and oral testimony. Of note:
  Exhibit 134-B: Table Showing Affiliations of J.P. Morgan & Company, Guaranty Trust Company, Bankers Trust Company, First National Bank and National City Bank with Other Corporations Through Interlocking Directorates.
  Exhibit 244: Diagram Showing Principal Affiliations of J.P. Morgan & Co. of New York, Kidder, Peabody & Co. and Lee, Higginson & Co. of Boston, First National Bank, Illinois Trust & Savings Bank, and Continental & Commercial National Bank of Chicago
  Exhibit 243: Diagram Showing Affiliations of J.P. Morgan & Co., National City Bank, First National Bank, Guaranty Trust Co. and Bankers Trust Co. of New York City with Large Corporations of the United States

Library of Congress Digital Resources

The following resources created and digitized by the Library of Congress can be used to find out more about the debate and passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act as well as the events of the day.

• Congressional Record

  This is the source for the Congressional Record back to 1899 and is where to find what was said on the House and Senate floor.

• Federal Reserve Act Signed

  This guide is a This Month in Business History entry and has information specific to the history of the Federal Reserve which often brings in the two Bank of the United States.

Internet Resources

The links below provide more information on the Black Monday crash from sources available on the Internet.

• Congressional Record (Bound Edition) External This link opens in a new window

  
  The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873 and is still published today.

  At the end of each session of Congress, all of the daily editions are collected, re-paginated, and re-indexed into a permanent, bound edition. This permanent edition, referred to as the Congressional Record (Bound Edition), is made up of one volume per session of Congress, with each volume published in multiple parts, each part containing approximately 10 to 20 days of Congressional proceedings. The primary ways in which the bound edition differs from the daily edition are continuous pagination somewhat edited, revised, and rearranged text and the dropping of the prefixes H, S, and E before page numbers.

  When searching over the Congressional Record (Bound Edition) on govinfo, you will be searching over the official business for each day's proceedings of Congress. This includes the House, Senate, and Extensions of remarks sections.

  Searches in govinfo over Congressional Record (Bound Edition) from 1999 forward will not search over other sections which are part of the official printed edition. These include the History of Bills, the compilation of Daily Digests, the resume of all business transacted during the entire Congress, and the subject index to the Bound Edition.

  Volumes 144 (1998) and prior are made available as digitized versions of the Congressional Record (Bound Edition) created as a result of a partnership between GPO and the Library of Congress. These volumes include all parts of the official printed edition.

• Electronic Resources Online Catalog (Library of Congress)

  The subscription resources marked with a padlock

  are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.
  A search for articles in the following business and historical newspaper databases will produce relevant results.
  Some recommended databases are:
  - Accessible Archives
  - America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1922
  - America: History & Life
  - Annals of American History
  - Early American Imprints, Series I Evans 1639-1800
  - ProQuest Historical Newspapers

• Elephind External

  
  This sources has 3,866,107 historic Newspapers — 4,345 Newspaper Titles, from around the world with a large number from the United States. It pulls from a number of open source repositories including the Library of Congress' Chronicling America, California Digital Newspaper Collection, Papers Past (New Zealand), Digital Michigan Newspapers, etc.

• Federal Trade Commission (Bureau of Competition)

  The FTC provides guidance about the application of the U.S. antitrust laws to promote transparency and encourage compliance with the law. These resources aid antitrust practitioners, policy makers, businesses, and consumers with questions about the antitrust laws or competition policy. Core competition documents have been developed with the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division to promote sound U.S. competition policy. It includes:
  Horizontal Merger Guidelines
  Vertical Merger Guidelines (2020)
  Antitrust Guidelines for Collaborations Among Competitors
  Competition Advisory Opinions
  Guide to Antitrust Laws

• Federal Trade Commission (Enforcement)

  The FTC enforces federal consumer protection laws that prevent fraud, deception and unfair business practices. The Commission also enforces federal antitrust laws that prohibit anticompetitive mergers and other business practices that could lead to higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation. This site includes:
  Cases and Proceedings
  Data and Visualizations
  Premerger Notification Program
  Merger Review
  Anticompetitive Practices
  Rules and Statutes
  Guidance Documents
  Warning Letters

• Pre-Merger Review and Challenges Under the Clayton Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act

  This report examines the primary statutes and processes that govern federal pre-merger review and merger challenges. This report was published September 27, 2017 (R44971).

• U.S. Department of Justice (Antitrust Division)

  The mission of the Antitrust Division is to promote economic competition through enforcing and providing guidance on antitrust laws and principles. This site includes information on Division Operations and information on the bureaus like Criminal Enforcement, Economic Analysis Group, International Program, and Merger Enforcement. There are Antirust case filings and their Public Documents area contains Antitrust Statutes, Appellate Briefs, Articles and Papers, Business Reviews (Letters, request letters, digests, indexes, and procedures), Division Manual, Division Operations (Newsletters, workload statistics, and appropriations), Economic Analysis Group Papers (Discussion papers, annual review articles, and other publications, Guidelines and Policy Statements), Reports, specific industry guidance, and other related materials.

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What law was passed by Congress in 1890 to prevent the formation of monopolies and any other contracts or agreements that resulted in a restraint of trade?

What was the purpose of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890?

What does the Sherman Act do?

Which of the following did the Sherman Antitrust Act make illegal in 1890?