The Sherman Antitrust Act: Plessy V. Ferguson

1725 Words7 Pages

Entry 1: The Sherman Antitrust Act: The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed by Congress in 1890. The Sherman Antitrust Act was the first measure put in place to allow free trade without any restrictions, and prohibited trusts in order to end them. This act gave Congress the right to regulate interstate commerce. Any restriction on free trade was marked as illegal and could result in fines and jail time. The Sherman Antitrust Act was basically a shield to protect people from the restriction of big corporations; in addition, this act had an immediate, threatening impact on the dominate businesses in the economy. The Standard Oil Company owned by John D. Rockefeller had a huge restriction on trade, resulting in violation of the Sherman Antitrust …show more content…

Ferguson was a court case that arose in Louisiana, and it created a drastically different atmosphere in 1896. This court case gave state laws that required black and white people to use separate facilities. The case came into light when Homer Plessy, an African-American, never moved to the “colored only” section on a train. Plessy was said to have had his Fourteenth Amendment violated because the separated facilities were discriminating; however the Court stated that the separate facilities were separate yet equal. Separate yet equal means that people have the same rights, but are separated by their race, religion, and wealth. The decision of the Court was in favor of the state because of the already standing Louisiana laws. I do believe that Homer Plessy’s thirteenth and fourteenth amendments were violated even though the Court stated it was only a distinction of color and not of …show more content…

Oregon was a court case that changed the lives of the working class women in 1908. This court case stated that the long hours of labor is dangerous for women because of their lack in physical strength and endurance. Women had to be treated differently from men because they are the ones that bear children; therefore, the working conditions need to be safer for women. I believe the Supreme Court saw this as an opportunity to keep the future of their society and the United States safe from the harmful effects of working in hazardous places. Overworking of the women was also a concern, so the Supreme Court also set a maximum amount of hours a woman can work. A correlation was made where an overworked, tired mother would not support a healthy, vigorous baby. Even though the laws set in place a number of benefits for the women, a number of these women saw it as a suppression of their

Open Document