Lassez-Faie Government Essay, Research Paper
issez-faire policy has always been a fundamental principle of the federal
government. Between the years of 1860 and 1900, the government s role
seems to be very small. New government policies are almost nonexistent and
the few policies they enforced were standard government administrations.
However, toward the end of the century, economic growth in the US can be
linked to direct government intervention. From the mid 1970 s to the early
1890 s, the federal followed standard government procedure and maintained
the national military, conducted foreign policy and collected tariffs and taxes.
The national government had little diversions to result in additional
responsibilities. The lone exception was the distribution of Civil War pensions
to veterans and their widows. Rather, the economic growth of that time was
due largely to industrial expansion and development. Major innovations of the
steel industry by Carnegie and electrical energy by Thomas Edison
revolutionized American industry. However, the federal government was not
entirely inactive and in 1887, passed the Interstate commerce act. This
allowed congress to oversee interstate commerce and regulate prices.
Around 1890, the national government began to take an even more active
role in the US economy and anti monopoly measures, protective tariffs and a
billion dollar budget are on the top of the agenda. The Sherman Anti Trust
Act of 1890 makes corporate monopolies officially illegal. Although the
Sherman Anti Trust proves to be useless, it shows that the federal
government was taking a stand in controlling corporate trusts. The Mckinley
Tariff of 1890 was a compromise tariff that included reciprocal trade
agreements that allowed the president to retaliate against countries that
discriminated US products. The federal government also dealt with the issue
of the gold standard through the Sherman Silver Purchase act, the Bland
Allison Act and the Gold Standard Act of 1900. Congress deleted the
treasury so much that it was faced with the first peacetime billion dollar
budget. The economic growth of America during this time period can be
linked to many things. The industrial growth of the country boosted the
economy considerably. However, this industrial growth would not have
benefited the country as much as it did with out the regulation and support it
received for mt he federal government. Even though the economic growth has
been credited to a laissez faire policy, it was in fact direct government
intervention that encouraged and developed the US economy.