Antitrust Law

Since the time of the Industrial Era, the United States has had the need for some form of Anti-trust Law. An interesting US history research paper topic is the tracing of antitrust law throughout the past Century. Paper Masters can custom write your research paper on antitrust law for a history or law school project.

The unrestrained nature of industrial capitalism inevitably leads to the rise of business practices that are anti-competition. Huge conglomerations will arise that seek to control the entire aspect of an industry. To counter this, the United States has a history of anti-trust laws that restrict the formation of cartels, regulate mergers that lessen competition and restrict the ability of companies to form a monopoly.

Antitrust Law in the 19th Century

By the end of the 19th century, American business had become large and unregulated. The term "trust" was frequently used to describe any big business, such as Standard Oil or United States Steel. With the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, the federal government took the first steps towards regulating business on a national level. This legislation was followed by the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, the first law to limit monopolies, the Clayton Antitrust Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act (both 1914), which regulated price discrimination and mergers, as well as the Robinson-Patman Act of 1936 and the Celler-Kefauver Act of 1950.

Antitrust law in the United States have attempted to regulate certain business practices deemed unlawful, such as:

• Price fixing
• Collusion
• Mergers that reduce competition within an industry

All of these practices have been classified as harmful to consumers and business. One major exception to antitrust laws are major league sports.