How did the governments adoption of laissez faire influence big business?

Answer 1

Laissez-Faire, a French term that translates loosely as "let things alone," originated in the eighteenth century with a school of French economists, known as the Physiocrats, who opposed trade restrictions that supported older economic systems such as mercantilism. The theory holds that individuals act out of self-interest and that self-interested action will benefit the larger community's general well-being. Proponents of laissez-faire reject state intervention through measures such as protective social legislation and trade restrictions, viewing them as socially injurious. The doctrine of laissez-faire involves not only a negative social policy of nonintervention but also a positive philosophy that recognizes a harmony between individual and social interests.

The United States has never adhered unconditionally to this doctrine, either theoretically or practically. Tariffs, components of American trade policy almost since the country's independence, contravene the principle of individualism expressed in the doctrine of laissez-faire.