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The Principles of Freedom and Government Intervention in American Economic Expansion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 February 2011
Extract
The laissez-faire theory in its various European forms is not as simple or clearcut as it is sometimes presented. Nor is it merely the converse of another theory equally complex but which is often taken simply as one of organization and complete state intervention. From the Physiocrats on, the exponents of the theory of laissez-faire, or freedom of industry, set themselves the task not only of freeing the economy and the individual, but also of directing and nurturing activity designed to improve the economy. This aim took the form of the advocacy of a wide variety of social and state actions; for example, the promotion of a stable currency, science and invention, education of the labor force, humanitarian reforms, especially in penology, and cultural, ideological, and even aesthetic advances. In short, the issue of individualism often became the broader issue of civilization.
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- Copyright © The Economic History Association 1959
References
1 McVickar, John, Introductory Lecture to a Course of Political Economy (London: John Miller, 1830), p. 32.Google Scholar
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7 Lieber, , “Tribute to the Memory of Alexander von Humboldt,” 1859Google Scholar; reprinted in his Miscellaneous Writings I, edited by Gilman, Daniel C. (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1881), p. 396.Google Scholar Lieber advocated what became the Panama Canal at least as early as 1847.
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9 Wayland to the Secretary of State, October 2, 1838 in Wayland, Francis and Wayland, H. L., A Memoir of the Life and Labor of Francis Wayland I, (New York: Sheldon, 1868), p. 330.Google Scholar An earlier version of this argument for “public patronage” of education was based on the idea that individuals could rarely provide the investment for equipment. “Knowledge of every sort is valuable in a community, very far beyond what it costs to produce it. Hence it is for the interest of every man to furnish establishments by which knowledge can be increased. Of the manner in which this should be afforded it belongs to political economists to treat.….Longer time than that of an individual's life, and greater wealth than falls to the lot of teachers are required to collect … [books] in numbers sufficient for extensive usefulness. The same may be said of instruments for philosophical research. Let these be furnished … amply.” See Wayland, , “Introductory Discourse,” in American Institute of Instruction, The Introductory Discourse and Lectures, 1830 (Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little and Wilkins, 1831), p. 14.Google Scholar
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