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Why did the U.S. government aid market expansion during the Civil War? How did the Homestead and Pacific Railroad Acts affect Native American nations? What domestic factors led to building an overseas empire in the 1890s? How did Teddy Roosevelt change the government-big business relationship?

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The U.S. government aided market expansion during the Civil War to strengthen the North's economy, incentivizing railroads and settlers, and passing the Homestead and Pacific Railroad Acts. These acts, however, displaced Native American tribes, hastening their cultural decline. In the 1890s, domestic factors like the Panic of 1893 and Manifest Destiny pushed for overseas expansion. Teddy Roosevelt transformed the government-business relationship by enforcing anti-trust laws and implementing consumer protections, curbing monopolistic practices.

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The United States sought to help the market economy by giving railroads greater incentive to build rail systems after the Civil War. Railroads controlled the right-of-way for each mile of track laid; these tracts could be sold by the railroad, thus getting settlers to these areas and giving the railroads a nice profit as well. The Homestead Act also encouraged settlers to move West. The government also hastened the end of Plains Indian culture by subsidizing buffalo hunters. The end of the buffalo brought about the end of Plains Indian culture, and it was hunger, not pitched battles, that led many Plains tribes to accept reservation life. The Gilded Age administrations kept tariffs high enough to give American manufacturers an advantage over European imports.

The United States felt many pressures to expand overseas. As American production became more efficient, American industrialists felt a need to acquire more raw materials. There was also an increasing need to find untapped markets. Many thought that China could be the next big market, so American manufacturers pressured the government to acquire islands in the Pacific that would serve as coaling stations for American merchants. Frederick Jackson Turner also wrote a treatise saying that the closing of the frontier might make Americans weaker; in order to stay strong, Americans perpetually needed new frontiers. This led to overseas expansion. There were also Christian groups who sought to expand American power in order to make sharing the Gospel easier.

Teddy Roosevelt passed many laws in order to regulate big business. He enforced anti-trust acts and broke up several trusts. His successor, William Howard Taft, carried on his work and broke up even more trusts. Roosevelt also regulated what businesses could sell by enacting the first consumer protections, such as the Food and Drug Act and the Meatpacking Act.

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It looks like there are three parts to your essay question. I will provide guidance on them below. 

1) Why the government began to aid the expansion of the market economy during the Civil War.

The main reason for the federal government's actions was to strengthen the North's newly industrialized economy. During the Civil War, the Southern states depended upon the cotton industry, one wholly supported by slave labor. The South lagged far behind the North in terms of manufacturing progress.

Due to the increased mechanization in factories in the Northern United States, states north of the Mason-Dixie line produced more firearms, railroad equipment, farm machinery, and textiles than those in the South. Most importantly, the North produced more and better weapons than the South, and this factor alone provided the North with a distinct advantage in its war against the South. The North also built its railroads faster than the South. Why? The North had access to a large labor population, from people moving into cities and foreign workers immigrating to the American North.

During the Civil War, Southern politicians elected to leave Congress to join the Confederacy. This led the federal government to push for westward expansion and to pass legislation to maintain the North's economic supremacy. Essentially, the federal government supported the emergence of a market economy so that it could strengthen its position against the South during the Civil War. In the next part, I'll address the Homestead and Pacific Railroad Acts.

Sources:

Industry and Economy During the Civil War.

The Economics of the Civil War.

How the Homestead and Pacific Railroad Acts passed by the federal government during this period helped lead to the defeat of the numerous Native American nations in the West.

The federal government planned to increase the North's economic power by exporting industrialization to the west. It projected that westward expansion was best supported by legislation such as the Homestead Act, the Morrill Act, and the Pacific Railroad Acts of 1862. For more details about these laws in your essay, please read about them at the link provided.

The transcontinental railroad basically linked the eastern and western United States, strengthening the North's position in its economic war against the South. The Homestead Act was especially significant because it allowed women and African Americans to claim land. The new pieces of legislation, however, led to the defeat of Native American tribes. Many tribes were displaced when Americans moved in to claim land in the Mid-West. The transcontinental railroad brought increased economic expansion to the west, but it also proved deleterious to many Indian tribes.

When Americans discovered that leather could be manufactured out of bison hide, the slaughter of herds of bison became commonplace. Now, Native American tribes were deprived of one of their main sources of food. Additionally, Indian warriors found themselves increasingly engaged in constant battle with the United States army; they always fared badly in these skirmishes. Read more here: American Indians and the Transcontinental Railroad.

Domestic factors (events and issues within the United States) that help explain why the United States government began to build a commercial overseas empire in the 1890s.

Two major factors may help explain why the United States government began to build a commercial overseas empire during the 1890s; these are the Panic of 1893 and the concept of Manifest Destiny.

The Panic of 1893 was the direct result of American manufacturing growth. Industrialization led to great economic growth within the United States, but the market was soon saturated. The United States made too many products, more than enough for its population.

Essentially, production exceeded consumption. The United States needed new markets to sell a glut of manufactured products. Outward expansion to foreign markets was thought to be the answer to this crisis.

The Panic of 1893 was also caused by the overexpansion of the railroad industry. Loans were made to firms that wanted to build more railroads, but many of these firms overextended themselves with huge loans. These firms eventually went bankrupt and laid off workers. People rushed to withdraw money from their banks, precipitating a panic.

The federal government stepped in to reassure the public, promising them access to more jobs. In order to keep its promise, foreign economic expansion was necessary. The recession was a major reason the United States began to build a commercial overseas empire in the 1890s.

3) For the third part of your question, I suggest referring to the link I provide below. Roosevelt basically changed the relationship between government and big business during the Progressive period. He sided with the workers against Big Business. When Congress refused to act, Roosevelt signed executive orders to tamp down on monopolistic practices by companies. He fervently believed that the federal government had the right to monitor Big Business.

The Great Regulator

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