{"id":27799,"date":"2024-05-24T15:27:22","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T15:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/05\/24\/the-us-has-always-had-big-government-even-in-the-colonial-era\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:08:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:08:41","slug":"the-us-has-always-had-big-government-even-in-the-colonial-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/opinions\/2024\/05\/24\/the-us-has-always-had-big-government-even-in-the-colonial-era\/","title":{"rendered":"The US has always had \u2018big government\u2019 \u2013 even in the Colonial era"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(THE CONVERSATION) \u2014 Paralyzed by its most radical members, the U.S.. House<\/a> of Representatives passed just 27 bills<\/a> that became law in 2023 \u2014 down nearly 90% from the previous year. Republicans who see big government as a threat to liberty view this failure as a \u201csuccess.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea of small government, however, is a myth at odds with U.S. history. In our new book, \u201cHow Government Built America<\/a>,\u201d we explore the extent to which the U.S. government has intervened in markets since the Colonial era. It turns out the country has always had big government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big government, 18th-century style<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Small-government advocates claim that the idea of limited government is foundational to the United States. But the Founding Fathers \u2013 including the ones who appear on today\u2019s US$1 and $10 bills \u2013 called for the new government to intervene in markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider the situation in the late 18th century<\/a>. After the U.S. won independence from Great Britain, two political groups \u2013 the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists \u2013 struggled to divide power between the federal and state governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Federalists favored a strong national government \u2013 which the Anti-Federalists opposed \u2013 both sides agreed that government should have a substantial role in the new nation. The Anti-Federalists weren\u2019t opposed to strong government, but they wanted to keep it at the local level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Federalists, including Alexander Hamilton, George Washington and John Adams, won out. They led the federal government\u2019s efforts to manage the economy and invest in infrastructure, including the building of canals, bridges and roads. To this day, the federal government makes similar investments to promote prosperity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Jefferson and other Anti-Federalists did believe that a powerful centralized federal government was more likely to be corrupted than if government were kept local. In his inaugural address<\/a>, Jefferson called for \u201ca wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Jefferson didn\u2019t campaign against the widespread regulatory activities that were taking place at the state level. At the time, almost every aspect of early American economy and society, from Sunday observance to the operation of taverns<\/a>, was regulated by the states, and, before them, the colonies. This was \u201cbig\u201d government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jefferson, like other founders, was influenced by a political philosophy, republicanism<\/a> \u2013 not to be confused with today\u2019s Republican Party \u2013 which understands the furtherance of the public good as a key goal of good government. These lowercase republicans put the government in charge of organizing economic and social activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of that government, Jefferson conceded, had to be at a national level. As president, he supported key elements of the national government established by the Federalists, including the national bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three centuries of big government<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A similar pattern has played out throughout American history. Markets produced an Industrial Revolution during the 1800s, but they also introduced dangerous workplaces, products, slums and poverty<\/a>, which restricted individual opportunity and threatened people\u2019s lives. The federal government responded by taking over from the states, for the first time, the function of regulating consumer markets, including railroad regulation, antitrust enforcement and food and drug safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when market freedom led to the Great Depression of 1929-1939, it was government that restored economic opportunity<\/a> and helped people to live and work in the meantime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More recently, when Wall Street crashed the economy in the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, government had to act again to restore markets<\/a>. When COVID-19 hit, government hastened the development of vaccines<\/a> and thus the restoration of people\u2019s freedom to live and work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A question of values<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We believe the myth of small government not only goes against the realities of American history, but it also threatens the basic political values of the country. It has taken both markets and government to build a country truer to American values of liberty, equality, fairness and the common good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take liberty, for example. Markets are celebrated for promoting individual liberty when individuals purchase a car, start a business and make countless other market decisions. According to this understanding, market participants are free to make their own choices, and as they do so, markets build wealth and prosperity for the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The internet revolution is a good example<\/a>. Consumers have endless choices of programming, software, podcasts and other social media as entrepreneurs seek their attention and business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as history shows, markets can also limit the liberty of consumers and workers, and when this happens, the public interest is not served. Consider how the internet can threaten the safety and well-being of children<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. can shrink its government, as its most determined political opponents demand, but history shows that the dangers markets pose will not go away. For example, the world is facing the \u201cexistential threat\u201d of climate change<\/a> \u2013 a problem that can\u2019t be solved<\/a> with free markets alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exact mix of government and markets has been contested throughout American history, and preference for \u201csmall\u201d government is a perennial campaign theme. But the idea that the country is best served by \u201cbig markets\u201d unsupervised by \u201cbig\u201d government, as far-right House members insist<\/a>, ignores centuries of American history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sidney Shapiro<\/a> is the Frank U. Fletcher Chair in Law at Wake Forest University<\/a> Wake Forest University<\/a>. Joseph P. Tomain<\/a> is Dean Emeritus and the Wilbert and Helen Ziegler Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/the-us-has-always-had-big-government-even-in-the-colonial-era-228490<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The idea of small government is a myth at odds with U.S. history, the authors argue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":79450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":26,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[11,31,26,9],"tags":[],"coauthors":[5927],"class_list":["post-27799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fedlife","category-home","category-opinions","category-federal-oversight"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"YV2HGHNWM5GNLNLHPSQP45KWSY","arc_canonical_url":"\/opinions\/2024\/05\/24\/the-us-has-always-had-big-government-even-in-the-colonial-era\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\nThe US has always had \u2018big government\u2019 \u2013 even in the Colonial era - Federal Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The idea of small government is a myth at odds with U.S. history, the authors argue.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The US has always had \u2018big government\u2019 \u2013 even in the Colonial era\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The idea of small government is a myth at odds with U.S. history, the authors argue.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/opinions\/2024\/05\/24\/the-us-has-always-had-big-government-even-in-the-colonial-era\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Federal Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-24T15:27:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T05:08:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sidney Shapiro, Wake Forest University, and Joseph P. 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