Question

Think about what happened to Standard Oil. Write a paragraph in which you explain whether or not you agree with the actions taken by the government to interfere with the growth of Standard Oil as a monopoly.

Answer 1

The United States government was correct in interfering with the growth of Standard Oil. Not only was the company taking advantage of existing situations, but eventually it would have controlled the oil market entirely. If Standard Oil was able to gain control of the market for a long period of time, consumers could have had to pay extremely high prices for the oil that they needed, limiting their purchase of other goods. Or Sample response: The United States government should not have interfered with the growth of Standard Oil. Because the company had managed to reduce production costs, it was able to offer very low prices to consumers. This benefited many Americans. Without the company's production benefits, citizens were not able to take advantage of this infrastructure.