“The widening of economic opportunities and the extension of the territorial setting of United States society went hand in hand and reinforced each other, as did technical progress and the rising levels of skill and education. Entrepreneurial, propertied groups, in urban as well as rural sectors of the society, pulled in the same direction: both have been money-minded groups which took the competitive market for granted. In this setting, the social costs and liabilities of capitalism could be overlooked, in fact, many of them could be socially defined as ethnic peculiarities of immigrant minorities, and hence not truly American. The anticapitalist sentiments of protesting intellectuals such as John Ruskin or Thomas Carlyle could not perturb the onrushing multitude in its ‘pursuit of happiness.’”
What I italicized here is what I left out in the original post by accident, so the correction has been duly made.
Adam A. Azim 