Violations of Laissez Faire by the U.S federal government between 1865 and 1900

The principle of laissez faire is that the an unobtrusive government is the best government; that the government necessarily only 'maintain domestic tranquillity, defend the people from invasion, and protect them when travelling.' To leave economic workings of the country to the people and let the 'motives for production' be that of the people not the government. Our government took such a stance in its early decades, but as national debt rose, interstate commerce …

…have a few trusts running every aspect of their daily lives. The violations of laissez faire were permanent, but only sporadic for the purposes of eliminating or at least breaking down monopolies that should appear in the American economy. In history the use of such agencies as the ICC have prevented short term profits for companies, such as AT&T and Bell but in the long run helped the end user of such services.