The progressive era and the political economy of big government∗

An early version of this paper was initially prepared for a conference on Robert Higgs's Crisis and Leviathan sponsored by the Pacific Institute and the Liberty Fund, October 9–12, 1986. For providing me with fresh insights into the Progressive Era and serving as a guide to the historical literature bearing on the issues discussed, I should like to thank James Livingston, whose recent book Origins of the Federal Reserve System is itself an important contribution to that literature (see n9 below). I must also thank the editor for his careful reading of and suggestions for the essay, and Lee Craig for his help in locating primary sources to help me respond to the editor's suggestions. The comments of three referees were also constructive, although I have not been able to respond to all of their suggestions. The essay is an outgrowth of related work (see n2 below) supported by the National Science Foundation under grant SES 8908272; an essay on big government should not neglect gratefully to acknowledge that assistance.

In the United States, big government was a child of the Progressive Era. Much recent work in American history, especially that of the “organizational” school, shows that big business played an active, perhaps dominant, role in the Progressive Era push for big government. This work undercuts an older, liberal interpretation emphasizing conflict between business and government. But why big business pushed for big government is still unclear. This paper advances the hypothesis that the push did result from a conflict between business and government, namely, a conflict between big business and state government in the late nineteenth century. As the power and influence of big business grew, it saw big government at the federal level as the solution to many of its problems resulting from the conflict with state government.

Notes

An early version of this paper was initially prepared for a conference on Robert Higgs's Crisis and Leviathan sponsored by the Pacific Institute and the Liberty Fund, October 9–12, 1986. For providing me with fresh insights into the Progressive Era and serving as a guide to the historical literature bearing on the issues discussed, I should like to thank James Livingston, whose recent book Origins of the Federal Reserve System is itself an important contribution to that literature (see n9 below). I must also thank the editor for his careful reading of and suggestions for the essay, and Lee Craig for his help in locating primary sources to help me respond to the editor's suggestions. The comments of three referees were also constructive, although I have not been able to respond to all of their suggestions. The essay is an outgrowth of related work (see n2 below) supported by the National Science Foundation under grant SES 8908272; an essay on big government should not neglect gratefully to acknowledge that assistance.