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Clayton Anti-trust Law In the late 1800’s there were some big names in the economy. Two of the biggest trusts out there where the Carnegie Steel and John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. These two companies and a few others dominated the economy and controlled not only the prices, but the market share for their products. In response, the Sherman Anti-trust Act was passed around 1890 to limit the control. The Sherman Act however, did not cover everything that businesses needed it to cover. In 1914, Woodrow Wilson instructed Congress to pass a new set of antitrust laws called the Clayton Act. (Swenson, 2) The Sherman Act was first passed to ensure that no company “shall monopolize, attempt to monopolize or conspire with another to monopolize interstate or foreign trade or commerce, regardless of the type of business entity” (Abernathy, 4). If a company did violate this act they could face up to three years in jail and up to $350,000 per violation and corporations could be fined up to $10 million per violation (6). Although the Sherman Act provided much advancement in fighting monopolies, there needed to be another act that more specifically and clearly prohibited certain anti-competitive practices.
Since the Sherman act needed more clarification, the Clayton Act of 1914 was soon drafted by Henry De Lamar Clayton Jr. Clayton along with many other people though the Sherman Act needed to be strengthened and clarified to work better. When Woodrow Wilson became president he instructed Congress to pass this act. He along with many others thought that the Clayton act “addresses specific practices that the Sherman Act does not clearly prohibit, such as mergers and interlocking directorates” (Scarlatti, 1). The Clayton act addressed many issues including: “price discrimination, exclusive dealing contracts, tying agreements, or requirement contracts; mergers and

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