American Bar Association organized

On August 21, 1878, the American Bar Association was organized at a meeting in Saratoga Springs, New York.

The original ABA constitution, which is still substantially the charter of the association, defined its mission as “the advancement of the science of jurisprudence, the promotion of the administration of justice and a uniformity of legislation throughout the country….”.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Standard Oil incorporated

On January 10, 1870, John Davison Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil. Rockefeller's corporation would grow to achieve a virtual monopoly over oil production in the United States. Standard Oil's dominance lasted until the corporation was split into 34 separate companies in 1911 after the Supreme Court found the company in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The rise of Standard Oil made Rockefeller America's first billionaire and eventually the richest man in the world. Read the text of Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey vs. United States, 221 U.S. 1 (1910).