VIDEO: Theodore Roosevelt vs. Big Industry
This video shows how Theodore Roosevelt began his attack against the greedy monopolies of his time, and what effect it had. It also shines some light on backstory before Roosevelt was in power. |
When Theodore Roosevelt was elected President of the United States of America, he was certain that the powerful "trust titans", or monopolies, were acting foolishly by incorrectly charging consumers for extra profits.
Since monopolies bought up all the competition with profits earned from before, they could set the price to whatever they pleased, even if it was an insane amount of currency, and the consumers would have to buy it if it was a necessity. Many monopolies were reasonable, and set the price of items to an affordable amount. Others were not the same to do so. The core of Theodore Roosevelt's plan and leadership was always in a "good versus evil" perspective. Trusts that controlled most of the industries or sometimes entire ones that kept the prices reasonable were considered "good", and since those trusts were “good", he considered that those trusts should be left alone. "Bad" trusts were considered to be the monopolies that extremely increased costs for critical goods and purchasable items just for the extra profit. This perspective was extremely praised for by the American public. Theodore's first weapon to fight the Trusts was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, which was passed and approved by Congress in 1890. Its main point declared illegal any and all combinations in resistance to trade. Unfortunately, the document did not operate like intended. For the very first twelve years of the document's existence, the Act seemed threatening. However, it was extremely ineffective, as US Courts almost always sided with businesses when any attempted enforcement of the Act was possible. It was realized at this point that it would take more than a document to end all bad trusts. Roosevelt had to put it in action himself instead of letting it fly solo. This proved to be a major hurdle for the document to overcome. However, when Roosevelt found an opportunity to spring into action against a "bad" trust, he took it. This attack focused on J. Pierpont Morgan, the most powerful industrialist in the United States at the time. In 1902, he was informed that Northern Securities Company (his company) was going in court due to the bad financial decisions his companies have made to raise extra profits. Eventually, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5 to 4 decision to dissolve the Northern Securities Company. His attempts to break the bad trusts immediately became much more intimidating and threatening. Theodore Roosevelt had a major influence in government and in taking down the trusts. By fighting them, he took a stand to restore the economy and open up opportunities for more companies to pop up. |