Note that this statement, while semantically true, is highly misleading: "Congress passed the Federal Trade Commission Act in 1914 because it was unhappy with t

Note that this statement, while semantically true, is highly misleading: "Congress passed the Federal Trade Commission Act in 1914 because it was unhappy with the enforcement of the Sherman Act, the original antitrust statute." In truth, the laws were harsher vs anticompetitive conduct before the Sherman Act was passed, with a history going back hundreds of years (in England) under the rubrick "Restraint of Trade." This was common law, not statute law. The Sherman Act was the first statute, true, but its main function was to kneecap common law penalties by limiting penalty amounts. President Harrison was sincere about limiting monopolies, according to his writings, at least, but it's not at all clear that sly John Sherman (brother of railroad president and General William Tecumsah Sherman), was.