In the 18th century French economists (26) the excessive regulation of business by the government. Their motto was laisser faire. Laisser faire means let the people do as they choose. In the economic sense, this meant that while the government should be responsible for things like maintaining peace and protecting (27) rights, it should not (28) with private business. It shouldn’t create regulations that might (29) business growth, nor should it be responsible for providing (30) to help. In other words, governments should take a hands-off (31) to business. For a while in the United States, laisser faire was a popular (32) But things quickly changed. After the Civil War, (33) rarely opposed the government’s generous support of business owners. (34) . Their regulations kept tariffs high and that helped protect American industrialists against foreign competition. (35) . It was generally assumed that because business owners did not have a lot of external restrictions placed on them by the government, they could pursue their own interests, and this was what made them so successful. (36) .