Early nineteenth-century Americans expected state government to actively promote economic development

Evidence

Not that some sort of massive ideology kept the state roped in tightly. Most Americans no doubt felt the government (state government, mostly) could and should help an underdeveloped country turn into a developed one. They felt, to be sure, that the state, like the Lord, helped those who helped themselves. Economic law was practical and promotional. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 1016

Categorization

• XREF: Contradicts the familiar laissez-faire picture of the era — anchors the course’s later reconstruction of what ‘regulation’ meant pre-New Deal. — connects to: Early American law was dynamic and pro-growth, not conservative. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 263; American regulation moved historically from local to state to federal control — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2547; States were once expected to produce passions, not merely check them

Broader Connections

• American regulation moved historically from local to state to federal control #expands (0.75) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2547
• States were once expected to produce passions, not merely check them #corroborates (0.72)