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.