The American Economy and the End of Laissez-Faire: 1870 to World War II

1. The Civil War and Its Legacy

American Economy Rothbard
Murray N. Rothbard

How does government intervene in the economy? What are the consequences? What are the motivations behind passing these interventions? The lives of the people involved explain why they do these things. Rothbard delves into the religious views of the leaders in American history to understand motivations. Schools, drink, and Sabbath laws were the focus of Yankees in Northern states for ninety years.

Lecture 1 of 13 presented in Fall of 1986 at the New York Polytechnic University.

The full series:

  1. The Civil War and Its Legacy
  2. The Railroading of the American People 
  3. The Decline of Laissez-Faire
  4. The Rise and Fall of Monopolies
  5. Pietism and the Power Brokers
  6. Tariffs, Inflation, Anti-Trust and Cartels
  7. Theodore Roosevelt: Master Reformer
  8. Regulation and Public Utilities
  9. The Progressive Era?
  10. Cartelization of Banking: The Fed
  11. Woodrow Wilson and World War I
  12. The Great Cooperation
  13. Politics and the Power Elite