1890-O MORGAN S$1 MS65 DMPL

John Sherman, a man from Ohio and brother to General William Tecumseh Sherman, had a long resume in political offices that included a seat in the House of Representatives, a Senate seat, and cabinet spots as Secretary of Treasury and of State. Sherman also attempted to win the nominee position on the Republican ticket for the presidential election but never succeeded. However, during his political career Sherman pushed two significant pieces of legislation in 1890 that significantly changed the economy. The first was the Sherman Silver Purchase act that was a response to the large amount of silver being mined in the west and the government restrictions on purchasing it. Sherman’s act required the government purchase double the amount of silver as they had previously allowed. In doing so, Silver miners could turn a profit for the United States and keep their product domestically. Unfortunately this led to a decrease in the value of Silver and a shortage in Gold which then surmounted in the economic Panic of 1893 from the lack of gold in the reserves. The second act Sherman drafted for 1890 was the Sherman Antitrust Act. This act was a response to the Rockefeller trust, Standard Oil, taking control of several oil refining businesses. John Sherman felt Standard Oil was overstepping their boundaries as a business as they engulfed 90% of the oil business in the United States. As a representative of Ohio, Sherman could not shut the company down nationally, but he could in Ohio. It wasn’t until he earned his seat in the Senate that he could push a federal law to put an end to monopolies in the country. Eventually Sherman’s act was able to break Standard Oil down and end the monopoly in 1911.