-
The Granger Laws were a series of laws passed in several midwestern states of the United States, namely Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois, in the late 1860s and early 1870s. The Granger Laws were promoted primarily by a group of farmers known as The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. -
Munn v. Illinois was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld the power of state governments to regulate private industries that affect "the common good. The Court held that the statute was a legitimate regulation of business under state law as the state was free to regulate commerce within its own boundaries even if it might incidentally become connected with interstate commerce. The Court affirmed the lower court's ruling. -
The act provided selection of government employees by competitive exams, rather than ties to politicians or political affiliation. It also made it illegal to fire or demote government officials for political reasons and prohibited soliciting campaign donations on Federal government property.
-
Garfield's assassination by a deranged office seeker amplified the public demand for reform. Civil service reformers established the National Civil Service Reform League and undertook a major public campaign for reform, arguing that the spoils system had played a major role in the assassination of Garfield. -
Charles Guiteau was the killer of James Garfield, which is what led to the Pendleton Civil Service Act. Charles J. Guiteau, who thought he deserved appointment to a government job, led to a public outcry for reform.
-
The Pendleton Act of 1883 was the federal legislation that created a system in which federal employees were chosen based upon competitive exams. This made job positions based on merit or ability and not inheritance or class. It also created the Civil Service Commission. By 1980 more than 90 percent of federal employees were protected by the act. -
the Interstate Commerce Act created an Interstate Commerce Commission to oversee the conduct of the railroad industry. With this act, the railroads became the first industry subject to Federal regulation. The Act required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just," but did not empower the government to fix specific rates. -
A law that was designed to regulate the railroad industry, particularly its monopolistic practices. The Act required that railroad rates be reasonable and just. The Interstate Commerce Act showed that Congress could apply the Commerce Clause more expansively to national issues if they involved commerce across state lines. After 1887, the national economy grew much more integrated making almost all commerce interstate and international. -
Now that he was President, Roosevelt went on the attack. The President's weapon was the Sherman Antitrust Act, passed by Congress in 1890. This law declared illegal all combinations "in restraint of trade." For the first twelve years of its existence, the Sherman Act was a paper tiger. 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." -
The Sherman Act outlaws "every contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade," and any "monopolization, attempted monopolization, or conspiracy or combination to monopolize." 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. -
John D. Rockefeller owned the largest and richest trust in America. He controlled the nation's oil business and scorned congressional efforts to outlaw combinations in restraint of trade. He controlled the nation's oil business and scorned congressional efforts to outlaw combinations in restraint of trade. In 1909, a federal court found Rockefeller's company, Standard Oil, in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The court ordered the dissolution of the company.