What was lincoln trying to avoid four years ago when he delivered his first inaugural address?

First, his pawn to hold, fascinate, and hold the property and places intimacy to the government-including Fort Sumter, which was still in Federal hands; second, his controversy that the Union was unsolvable, and thus that secession was impossible, and third, a promise that while he would never be the first to attack, any use for arms upon the United States would be regarded as rebellion, and met with force. The inauguration took place on the eve of the American Civil War, which began soon after with the Confederate attack on the Fort Sumter.

The Sherman Act is the first antitrust law in the United States to proclaim a crime to prevent the freedom of trade by creating a trust and conspire with such a purpose. The act obliged federal prosecutors to prosecute such criminal associations and imposed fines, confiscations, and prison sentences of up to 10 years.

Sherman’s act was not directed against trusts as such, but against obvious restrictions on freedom of trade (both between US states and international) - including, personally, against John Rockefeller and his Standard Oil.