View source for United States v. American Tobacco Co.

{{Infobox SCOTUS case
  |Litigants=United States v. American Tobacco Co.
  |ArgueDateA=January 3
  |ArgueDateB=6
  |ArgueYear= 1910
  |ReargueDateA=January 9
  |ReargueDateB=12
  |ReargueYear=1911
  |DecideDate=May 29
  |DecideYear=1911
  |FullName=United States v. American Tobacco Company
  |USVol=221
  |USPage=106
  |ParallelCitations=31 S. Ct. 632; 55 [[L. Ed.]] 663
  |Prior=Appeals from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York
  |Subsequent=
  |Holding=The combination in this case is one in restraint of trade and an attempt to monopolize the business of tobacco in interstate commerce within the prohibitions of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
  |Majority=White
  |JoinMajority= McKenna, Holmes, Day, Lurton, Hughes, Van Devanter, Lamar
  |Concurrence/Dissent=Harlan
  |LawsApplied=[[Sherman Antitrust Act]]
}}
'''''United States v. American Tobacco Company''''', {{ussc|221|106|1911|el=no}}, was a decision by the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]], which held that the combination in this case is one in restraint of trade and an attempt to monopolize the business of [[tobacco]] in interstate commerce within the prohibitions of the [[Sherman Antitrust Act]] of 1890. As a result, the [[American Tobacco Company]] was split into four competitors.

==Facts==

{{expand section|date=April 2013}}

==Judgment==
The [[Sherman Antitrust Act]] was created in 1890, and in 1907 the [[American Tobacco Company]] was indicted in violation of it.<ref name="Brandt, Alan M. p. 39">Brandt, Alan M.: ''The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America'', p. 39. Basic Books, 2007</ref>  In 1908 when the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] filed suit against the company, sixty-five companies and twenty-nine individuals were named in the suit.  The Supreme Court ordered the company to dissolve in 1911 on the same day that it [[Standard Oil Co. v. United States|ordered]] the [[Standard Oil Trust]] to dissolve.<ref name="Brandt, Alan M. p. 39"/>  The ruling in ''United States v. American Tobacco Co.'' stated that the combination of the tobacco companies "in and of itself, as well as each and all of the elements composing it whether corporate or individual, whether considered collectively or separately [was] in restraint of trade and an attempt to monopolize, and a monopolization within the first and second sections of the Anti-Trust Act."<ref>Jenkins, John Wilber: ''James B. Duke: Master Builder'', p. 153. George H. Doran Company, 1927.</ref>

==Significance==
In order to promote market competition, four firms were created from the American Tobacco Company's assets: [[American Tobacco Company]], [[R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company|R. J. Reynolds]], [[Liggett Group|Liggett & Myers]], and [[Lorillard]].  The monopoly became an oligopoly.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brandt |first=Alan M. |title=The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America |page=[https://archive.org/details/cigarettecentury00bran/page/41 41] |location=New York |publisher=Basic Books |year=2007 |isbn=9780465070473 |url=https://archive.org/details/cigarettecentury00bran/page/41 }}</ref>

In 1938 [[Thurman Arnold]] in the [[United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division]] began hosting hearings in the [[Temporary National Economic Committee]] to determine whether the four companies were further engaged together in monopolistic practices.<ref name="tobacco1940">
{{cite book|last=Silber|first=Norman Isaac|title=Test and protest|year=1983|pages=52–53|publisher=Holmes and Meier|location=New York: Holmes & Meier|isbn=0841907498}}, citing 
*{{cite journal|journal=Consumer Reports|date=September 1941|pages=229–232}}
*{{cite court |litigants=U.S. v. American Tobacco Company, et al. |reporter=''Temporary National Economic Committee Monograph'', XXI |court=[[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky]] |date=July 24, 1940 }}</ref> That committee found that 3 of the 4 companies were guilty of the charges presented to the court.<ref name="tobacco1940"/>

==See also==
*[[List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 221]]
*''[[Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States]]'' (1911)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal |last=Porter |first=Patrick G. |year=1969 |title=Origins of the American Tobacco Company |journal=Business History Review |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=59–76 |doi=10.2307/3111987|publisher=The President and Fellows of Harvard College |jstor= 3111987 |s2cid=145351728 }}
*{{cite book |chapter=James Buchanan Duke: Opportunism Is the Spur |title=The Entrepreneurs: Explorations Within the American Business Tradition |last=Sobel |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Sobel |year=1974 |publisher=Weybright & Talley |location=New York |isbn=0-679-40064-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/entrepreneursexp00sobe }}

==External links==
*{{caselaw source
 | case=''United States v. American Tobacco Co.'', {{ussc|221|106|1910|el=no}}
 | courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/97417/united-states-v-american-tobacco/
 | googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2010196062075326432
 | justia=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/221/106/case.html
 | loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep221/usrep221106/usrep221106.pdf
 | openjurist =https://openjurist.org/221/us/106
}}

[[Category:United States Supreme Court cases]]
[[Category:United States Supreme Court cases of the White Court]]
[[Category:United States antitrust case law]]
[[Category:1911 in United States case law]]
[[Category:United States tobacco case law]]
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