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The latter part of the 19th century (1870-1900) is generally viewed as a dark time in American

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The latter part of the 19th century (1870-1900) is generally viewed as a dark time in American History. Called the “Gilded Age” this was a time in which increasing wealth was plagued by many problems under the surface. The Gilded Age saw increasing industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and the problems associated with them. Many people during this time period blamed these problems on the government for being “laissez-faire;” for not taking steps against industry in order to benefit the interests of the people. Although the people were correct in the fact that the government was not taking steps in order to benefit them, the claim that the government during the Gilded Age was laissez-faire is completely false. Through their …show more content…

Thus, through the acquisition of wealth for the wealthy, the poor are able to obtain the necessities of life, and society is advanced. While The Theory of Moral Sentiments deals mainly with the moral argument for laissez-faire, The Wealth of Nations justifies the usage of laissez-faire at the national level through economic arguments. In Book 4 of The Wealth of Nations (Of systems of political Economy), Smith argued that government restrictions hindered industrial expansion and thus, harmed the economy in the long run (in earlier books, Smith had equated the growth of industry to the wealth of a nation and its individuals through historical analysis). Specifically, he stated that protectionist tariffs served against the interests of a nation by causing increasing prices of foreign and domestic goods, that export duties harm the economy by diminishing the goods that a company can ship overseas, that trade treaties harm the economy by giving a foreign nation a trade monopoly over an industry (since the other country will only be trading with them for that particular good), and that by restricting the

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