US Government Economic Interventions in Regard to Individual Freedom (Term Paper Sample)

Name
Course
Professor
Date
US Government Economic Interventions in Regard to Individual Freedom.
The United States is the one country that has mostly embraced capitalism all through its history. In its effort to defend capitalism, the country has a long history characterized by inequality (Batson, DeSimone and Fishman-Cross 59). However, upon its independence, the country was founded on strong principles of equality and liberty. As a result, the country has over the years been forced to grapple between balancing its economic policies and allowing for individual freedom.
The government has had to indirectly encourage philanthropy to reduce inequality. Since its independence, the country has been heavily divided between the rich and the poor. The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era were characterized that lasted between 1860 and 1912, the US became characterized by a population of a few wealth individuals and masses of people that struggled to make ends meetCITATION Mic15 \p 220 \l 1033 (Batson, DeSimone and Fishman-Cross 220). This period saw a lot of immigrants enter the United States with a hope of being economically empowered but ended up earning very little while working under intolerable working conditions. This is because the urban infrastructure could not sustain the ever growing population.
During this period, the senate that made laws was highly dictated by the rich industrialists of the time. On the other hand, workers in the manufacturing companies worked for as low as 10 dollars a week. However the government sought to encourage philanthropy to ease the gap between the rich and the poor. This was done by the way of heavily taxing property that was left after death (Batson, DeSimone and Fishman-Cross 223). The State of Philadelphia taxed about one tenth of property left behind by the dead to go back to the society. Andrew Carnage, in his Gospel of Wealth, states that the law seeks to punish the dead for being selfish with their wealth during their lifetime. This fostered individual freedoms in the country.