A law you can read in about five minutes still shapes some of the biggest fights in the American economy. We walk through the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 with Dr. Sean Beienberg and unpack what “restraint of trade,” “trusts,” and “monopolize” actually mean in practice, not just in a textbook. Along the way, we connect the original goal of antitrust law to a very modern question: when does a private company become an unavoidable choke point for everyone else?

We start with the late 1800s panic over consolidation, especially railroads and other industries where there is no real substitute. Then we hit the first major stumble, the EC Knight Sugar Trust case, where the Supreme Court treats a near-total sugar monopoly as “manufacturing” rather than interstate commerce. That early narrowing sets up the long argument over what counts as national market power and when the federal government can step in.

From there, the trustbusting era kicks back into gear. We cover Roosevelt’s enforcement push, Northern Securities, the shift that allows regulation of meatpacking as a national bottleneck, and the blockbuster Standard Oil case. That decision also helps cement the “rule of reason,” the idea that antitrust law targets unreasonable, harmful restraints while allowing consolidation that benefits consumers. We close with the underrated debate over who deserves the trustbuster crown, Theodore Roosevelt or William Howard Taft, and why the Sherman Act still anchors antitrust law today alongside later statutes like the Clayton Act.

If you care about competition policy, monopoly power, mergers, or the FTC, this one is for you. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review, then tell us: should antitrust focus on prices, or on power?

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