Northern Securities Company

Supreme Court Orders Northern Securities Dissolution in First Major Antitrust Victory

| Importance: 10/10

On March 14, 1904, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Northern Securities Company violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and ordered the railroad holding company dissolved. The decision affirmed the April 9, 1903 federal circuit court ruling against the company formed by J.P. Morgan, James J. …

U.S. Supreme Court Theodore Roosevelt J.P. Morgan James J. Hill Edward H. Harriman +1 more antitrust corporate-power regulatory-enforcement supreme-court progressive-era
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Roosevelt Announces Northern Securities Antitrust Suit Against J.P. Morgan Railroad Trust

| Importance: 9/10

On February 19, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt’s Department of Justice announced plans to file an antitrust suit against the Northern Securities Company, a railroad holding company formed in November 1901 by J.P. Morgan, James J. Hill, and Edward H. Harriman to control the Great Northern …

Theodore Roosevelt Attorney General Philander Knox J.P. Morgan James J. Hill Edward H. Harriman +1 more antitrust corporate-power regulatory-enforcement progressive-era railroad-regulation
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J.P. Morgan Creates Northern Securities: $400 Million Railroad Monopoly

| Importance: 8/10

In 1901, J.P. Morgan orchestrated the creation of the Northern Securities Company, a $400 million holding company that gave him control over approximately one-third of the country’s railways. The consolidation emerged from a fierce competition between James J. Hill, head of the Great Northern …

J.P. Morgan James J. Hill Edward H. Harriman Northern Securities Company Great Northern Railroad +1 more monopoly-power financial-consolidation corporate-merger railroad-control market-manipulation
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