What was teddy roosevelt positions on trusts

Roosevelt believed he served the people, not just the government. Under this approach, unless the Constitution or Congress explicitly grants a certain power, the president does not have the right to act. While Roosevelt expanded federal power in many areas, Taft felt many of these actions were legal overreaches. Steel and told them that the American government would not attack their corporation as a monopoly since he believed the company was working in the interests of the American people.

Roosevelt did not, however, pass any legislation or make any binding orders to this effect. Reformers, called Progressives, demanded that states pass antitrust laws to make cartels and monopolistic practices illegal and to regulate railroad rates. These laws, however, were ineffective because most trusts operated across state lines. Only the federal government could regulate interstate commerce. In , Congress passed the federal Interstate Commerce Act.

This law required interstate railroads to charge "reasonable and just" rates. But the Interstate Commerce Commission ICC , which monitored the railroads, ended up with little authority to enforce its rulings. In , Congress passed the first federal antitrust law, the Sherman Act. It outlawed "every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy in restraint of trade.

In the decade following passage of the Sherman Act, the generally pro-business presidents did little to enforce it. In fact, during this period, more mergers occurred and more trusts were formed than ever before.

In , the U. Supreme Court ruled that the Sherman Act could regulate interstate sales and transportation. But the court said the act could not ban the merger of manufacturing assets that established monopolies, even by companies operating in interstate commerce. The court reasoned that manufacturing was not part of interstate commerce. In another case that year, the Supreme Court decided that the Sherman Act could bar union strikes that interfered with interstate commerce. Ironically, while Congress intended the Sherman Act to combat the big trusts, it was becoming a major weapon against organized labor.

In his First Annual Message to Congress, Roosevelt expressed his admiration for the "strong and forceful men" who had "done great good" by building up the commerce of the nation.

But he also observed that "there are real and grave evils" that needed to be corrected. Roosevelt told Congress he opposed banning monopolies.

Instead, he preferred that the federal government "assume power of supervision and regulation over all corporations doing an interstate business. Despite his generally pro-business outlook, Roosevelt disliked the corruption and arrogance of the new class of super rich. In , public demands for "trustbusting" breaking up the monopolies prompted him to file suit under the Sherman Act against the biggest railroad trust in the country.

In , James J. Hill, E. Harriman, and J. Morgan had made a secret deal to combine their railroad stocks in a "holding company," another type of trust. Their new company, the Northern Securities Company, controlled all the major railroads in the Northwestern states.

Morgan went to the White House to meet with Roosevelt. Morgan asked if Roosevelt was going to attack his steel trust and other interests. Northern Securities lost in the lower courts and appealed to the Supreme Court, claiming that the Sherman Act violated the freedom to make contracts.

In in a stunning opinion for the court, Justice John Marshall Harlan declared that "every combination" that eliminates interstate competition was illegal. The court included combinations of manufacturing companies and railroads. In separate opinions, however, a majority of justices indicated that they believed that the Sherman Act only banned unreasonable combinations.

The Supreme Court majority found that all monopolies tended to restrain trade and "to deprive the public of the advantages that flow from free competition. The voters returned Roosevelt to the White House in the election of Early the next year, Ida Tarbell and other Progressive journalists, whom Roosevelt later called "muckrakers," condemned secret railroad rebates to Standard Oil and other big companies.

The rebates had drawn controversy for years. In December , Roosevelt called on Congress to empower the Interstate Commerce Commission to ensure reasonable railroad rates for all. Congress responded with the Hepburn Act, which authorized the ICC to set maximum rail rates after finding that current ones were unreasonable.

Thus, Roosevelt, the "trustbuster," tried to shift to his preferred role as federal "regulator. Public pressure, however, forced Roosevelt to continue trustbusting. In , he authorized a federal investigation of John D. This trust then controlled about 80 percent of U. The investigators uncovered secret rebates from railroads and concluded that Standard Oil held "monopolistic control.

The following year, the federal government filed a Sherman antitrust suit against the American Tobacco Company. This trust controlled almost 90 percent of U. American Tobacco had bought out over competitors, using such tactics as "fighting brands. Even so, by the end of his second term, Roosevelt remained convinced that federal regulation of big business was the best way to tame the trusts. Filing lawsuits against individual monopolies to break them up was a costly and slow slog through the courts, he believed.

Besides, he held the view that "good" monopolies benefited the public with efficient distribution of new products. This angered both big business and Roosevelt. The corporation controlled half of all steel production and nearly 80 percent of iron-ore reserves in the country.

Steel was a "menace to the country and should be destroyed. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie. Roosevelt, out of office but still active in politics, condemned the lawsuit.

He said suing all trusts was "hopeless" and even if successful would "put the business of the country back into the middle of the 18th century. Wisconsin that railroads, and other companies of such size necessarily affected the public interest and could thus be regulated by individual states.

When, therefore, one devoted his property to a use in which the public has an interest, he, in effect, grants to the public an interest in that use, and must submit to be controlled by the public for the common good, to the extent of the interest he has thus created. Later rulings, however, conceded that only the federal government could constitutionally regulate interstate commerce and the new national businesses operating it.

And as more and more power and capital and market share flowed to the great corporations, the onus of regulation passed to the federal government. In Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act, which established the Interstate Commerce Commission to stop discriminatory and predatory pricing practices.

The Sherman Anti-Trust Act of aimed to limit anticompetitive practices, such as those institutionalized in cartels and monopolistic corporations. Only in , with the Clayton Anti-Trust Act, did Congress attempt to close loop holes in previous legislation. Instead, je envisioned his presidency as a mediator between opposing forces, for example, between labor unions and corporate executives.

Despite his own wealthy background, Roosevelt pushed for anti-trust legislation and regulations, arguing that the courts could not be relied upon to break up the trusts.

Roosevelt also used his own moral judgment to determining which monopolies he would pursue. Roosevelt believed that there were good and bad trusts, necessary monopolies and corrupt ones. Although his reputation was wildly exaggerated, he was first major national politician to go after the trusts. Morgan, used to hold controlling shares in all the major railroad companies in the American Northwest.