President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, whilst the third year of the bloody civil war was ongoing. The proclamation stated "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." This allowed the Thirteenth Amendment to come along as well.
Laissez-faire Versus Government Intervention. Historically, the U.S. government policy toward business was summed up by the French term laissez-faire -- "leave it alone." The concept came from the economic theories of Adam Smith, the 18th-century Scot whose writings greatly influenced the growth of American capitalism.
Marbury v. Madison is important because it established the power of judicial review for the U.S. Supreme Court and lower federal courts with respect to the Constitution and eventually for parallel state courts with respect to state constitutions.
