Sherman Anti-Trust Act

   

    The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was first created by the U.S Congress in the year 1890, in hopes of combatting a complete monopoly in any type of market and preserving economic competition across the nation. This made the act of merging two businesses together to form a monopoly over their competitors completely illegal in the eyes of Congress. The act was named after the U.S senator of Ohio, known for his expertise in regulation of commerce, John Sherman. While many would think this act does not come into play during the present day, they would be very incorrect. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act has remained in effect since it was first passed, helping to maintain our economic stability and diversity for several years, and many more to come in the future.

    There were two main goals to be reached when passing this act, the first being to ban the act of intruding and/or sabotaging a trade between two businesses, as well as prohibiting an overall monopolization of any type of commerce or trade. These provisions of the Act greatly aided in keeping smaller businesses afloat in our competitive economy, while still trying to compete with big name brands. Without this act, there would most likely be little to no smaller sized businesses in our nation. The big-name brands would simply take over the trade of goods, completely cutting off the supply and any chance a smaller business would have staying in business. 

    While this act greatly aids in helping smaller businesses, it also makes the idea of the "American dream" hypocritical in some ways. In our nation, we believe everyone has the right and the freedom to live a prosperous and successful life, and it is simply up to ourselves how hard we wish to work for these dreams to actually come to life. The passing of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act aided this idea of the American dream, but it also damaged it in some ways. The passing of this act is proof our nation believes any size business should stay afloat as long as they work for it, but it also shows when a particular person or business becomes too powerful and/or successful, we do everything in our power to slow them down. To put it simply, our nation is afraid of what will occur if an individual person or business gains too much power over their competitors and nation as a whole. 

    In conclusion, I believe the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was a very smart decision made by Congress, allowing for smaller businesses to be able to compete with much larger companies without being completely blown out of the water. It allows for fair play among all businesses in the country, but I cannot help but think it also makes our nation sound a bit hypocritical in other aspects. Our nation strives on the idea of being able to make a name for yourself no matter what the circumstances. We strive on the idea of climbing to the top and beating any competition that comes our way, but once an individual person climbs too high, we must cut them down so others may climb as well.