> Were the types of intervention different before the era of 'Big Business'?
>
Of course (not that they were different in all respects.) Stealing land was an obvious one. Tarrifs were very important and more or less coincided with the conditions that allowed Big Business to develop in the first place. And you had purposes served under the antebellum South, although I'd say that doesn't count, since it was neither capitalist nor liberal.