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Article: Northern Securities Case
- Article from:
- Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
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NORTHERN SECURITIES CASE
The American economy changed substantially following the American Civil War (1861
–
1865). Cottage industries, artisan production, and small-scale manufacturing declined, and a new, larger, factory-based manufacturing sector grew. Operating under relatively relaxed state business laws, financiers and manufacturing moguls became rich, often by suppressing the competition.
This led to a concentration of capital in just a few huge corporations, especially in transportation and heavy industry. The giant manufacturing and mining companies that survived the period of cutthroat competition soon folded into nationwide monopolies known as trusts. In a trust, the ...