Oklahoma Social Studies USH.C.2.3.D
The Standard
- USH.C.2
- Analyze the social, economic, and political changes that occurred during the American Industrial Revolution, the Gilded Age, and reform movements.
- USH.C.2.3
- Evaluate the rise and reforms of Populism and the Progressive Movement.
Describe how the rise of trusts and monopolies impacted consumers and workers, prompting government’s response with the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Acts.
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · USH.C.2.3
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students trace what happens when one company controls most oil refining or rail service. They explain how that can affect prices, choices, and jobs. They connect those effects to the two federal laws passed to limit unfair competition.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain why a trust might charge more and leave workers with fewer employers to choose from. They can distinguish the Sherman Act's ban on monopolization and trade restraints from the Clayton Act's rules against specific practices, including stock purchases that reduce competition.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think every large company was illegal under the Sherman Act. They may also think the laws immediately broke up every trust or guaranteed workers higher wages.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A firm buys stock in its rivals, raises prices, and cuts wages. Name one effect on customers and one on workers, then explain what each law could challenge.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups three seller cards, then replace them with one trust card; have students set oil prices and record buyers' options.
Ask: If Standard Oil controlled most local jobs, how could that change wages, and why might Congress step in?
Hand out four scenario cards; students sort monopoly agreements under Sherman and stock purchases that reduce competition under Clayton, then defend one choice.
Compare two printed phone service ads, then ask how a merger might change customers' choices and employees' job options.
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