While fighting a war for the Union; the Republican party attempted to construct the world's most powerful and most socially advanced nation. Rejecting the common assumption that wartime domestic legislation was a series of piecemeal reactions to wartime necessities; Heather Cox Richardson argues that party members systematically engineered pathbreaking laws to promote their distinctive theory of political economy.Republicans were a dynamic; progressive party; the author shows; that championed a specific type of economic growth. They floated billions of dollars in bonds; developed a national currency and banking system; imposed income taxes and high tariffs; passed homestead legislation; launched the Union Pacific railroad; and eventually called for the end of slavery. Their aim was to encourage the economic success of individual Americans and to create a millennium for American farmers; laborers; and small capitalists.However; Richardson demonstrates; while Republicans were trying to construct a nation of prosperous individuals; they were laying the foundation for rapid industrial expansion; corporate corruption; and popular protest. They created a newly active national government that they determined to use only to promote unregulated economic development. Unwittingly; they ushered in the Gilded Age.
#3436696 in Books 1972-01-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x 6.25 x 1.75l; .0 #File Name: 0674085655690 pages
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