USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Answer and Explanation: The Sherman Antitrust Act was difficult to enforce because it was vaguely worded and key concepts of monopolistic business practices were not defined. For example, the term “fair competition” was not defined, nor was the word “monopoly” itself defined.

Detailed explanation-2: -For more than a decade after its passage, the Sherman Antitrust Act was invoked only rarely against industrial monopolies, and then not successfully. Ironically, its only effective use for a number of years was against labor unions, which were held by the courts to be illegal combinations.

Detailed explanation-3: -The act was designed to restore competition, but it was loosely worded and failed to define such critical terms as “trust, ” “combination, ” “conspiracy, ” and “monopoly.” Five years later, the Supreme Court dismantled the act in United States v. E. C. Knight Company (1895).

Detailed explanation-4: -A federal law that committed the American government to opposing monopolies. The law prohibited contracts, combinations and conspiracies in restraint of trade. The act was ineffective due to intentionally vague language by Congress who passed it to placate the public rather then really restrain corporate power.