Question

During the Gilded Age, how did the US Congress act to regulate business practices?
Congress passed laws that supported laissez-faire policies to help businesses grow.
Congress was concerned about workers, so they passed laws that guaranteed a minimum wage.
Congress did not pass laws that would control the growth of monopolies.
Congress passed laws that ensured workplace safety.

Answer 1

Correct/incorrect breakdown with brief explanations:

1. Congress passed laws that supported laissez-faire policies to help businesses grow. — Mostly True.
Federal policy in the Gilded Age generally favored business: low regulation, pro-business court rulings, high protective tariffs, and a hands-off attitude toward labor. When Congress did act it usually did so in ways that accommodated business interests.

2. Congress was concerned about workers, so they passed laws that guaranteed a minimum wage. — False.
There was no federal minimum wage in the Gilded Age (the federal minimum wage did not arrive until the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938). Congress passed few protections for workers at that time.

3. Congress did not pass laws that would control the growth of monopolies. — False (but with a caveat).
Congress did pass the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) to curb trusts and monopolies, but enforcement was weak and courts often interpreted the law narrowly in ways that favored corporations.

4. Congress passed laws that ensured workplace safety. — False.
Federal workplace-safety regulation was minimal in the Gilded Age. Significant federal safety and consumer-protection laws (and stronger labor protections) largely came later during the Progressive Era and the New Deal/20th century.