May 15, 1911: The Supreme Court rules that Standard Oil violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act

In 1902, the attorney general filed suit to break up Standard Oil, which not only controlled oil refineries but also took advantage of the railroad industry's weakened status by demanding low transport rates for the oil in exchange for continued business. In 1911, the Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and broke the organization into 33 separate companies. Congress approved the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1890, but it was not strongly enforced until President Roosevelt's ''trust busting'' campaigns in the early 1900s. The act bans business arrangements that restrict trade and therefore lead to a monopoly on an industry.

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