Interstate Commerce Act

James Kelly
Professor Whittington
American History
1 April 2014
The Interstate Commerce Act
The interstate commerce act was the first legislation to put an end to monopoly businesses and help create competition. It started out as to only aim toward the railroad companies during the late 1800’s. The government wanted to make all railroad shipping fares equal for all. It gave congress the right to regulate commerce of private corporations conducting business between states. It was the catalyst that brought about the Sherman antitrust act of 1890. The interstate commerce act is important for keeping competition amongst businesses alive today.
In the 1800 the railroad companies were booming out of control. Everyone who wanted to make quick money off of the labor of the masses invested into railroads. The big monopolizes in this industry were Rockefeller, Carnegie and Vanderbilt. They were the big business men of the railroad system. Their funding helped America become connected on a large mass scale. Now goods and products can be moved much faster across the states. Farmers and factories have the opportunity to ship their goods and get them into the market where ever their product needs to go. Technology is always changing and in this era railroads changed Commerce forever. The downside with the monopolies in the railroad system hurt small business though. The areas in which the railroads were developed went through big farms but the little guys were paid no too little attention. There was also a high fare you had to pay to get your goods transported and since there was only one Railroad Company there was no other choice.
The government saw this as an important issue. The government wanted to make sure that all farmers had equal opportunity to push their products. Also the government is not fond of monopolies because they kill competition and limit buyer’s choices. Our economy is not pure capitalism but for capitalism to work you must have competition or you...