Sherman Antitrust Act
Overview
 

The Sherman Antitrust Act (Sherman Act, July 2, 1890, ch. 647, ) requires the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 federal government to investigate and pursue trusts
Trust (19th century)
A special trust or business trust is a business entity formed with intent to monopolize business, to restrain trade, or to fix prices. Trusts gained economic power in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some, but not all, were organized as trusts in the legal sense...

, companies, and organizations suspected of violating the Act. It was the first Federal statute to limit cartel
Cartel
A cartel is a formal agreement among competing firms. It is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production. Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products...

s and monopolies
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...

, and today still forms the basis for most antitrust
Antitrust
The United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...

 litigation by the United States federal government. However, for the most part, politicians were unwilling to refer to the law until Theodore Roosevelt's presidency (1901–1909).
The Sherman Act was passed in 1890 and was named after its author, Senator John Sherman, an Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 Republican, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, who was also Rockefeller's colleague.
 
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