Interest groups developed well over a century ago, and still prosper today. The time period of 1830 to 1889 is considered to be the era of National Groups. The first interest groups were either business-interest groups or social-interest groups. Examples of these would be the Anti-Slavery movement; in which people lobbied the government to outlaw all forms of human enslavement. An example of business-interest groups during this time would be the Railroad and Oil Companies. Their main concern was to limit regulations on big business so that they could develop monopolies making it extremely easy for them to control business (Thompson). This resulted in large corruption in the government because politicians were being paid by these big businesses to continue a policy of "hands off" government, in which the government placed not restrictions on .
business practices. This period of great corruption would actually lead to a whole new era marked by political interest groups fighting to regulate business again (Thompson).
During the Progressive era, 1890-1820, interest groups with new demands would arise. Political interest groups with the goal to improve working conditions in factories began to form, such as the American Federation of Labor. They attempted to battle big businesses that often would have horrible working conditions for their laborers. These interest groups, also known as "Labor Unions", were greatly welcomed by middle class workers, while the wealthy claimed these organized groups were "Un-American". There were also groups at these times that lobbied in congress to raise standards of business regulation, certain politicians liked these ideas and began to implement new codes that would regulate business and destroy monopolies. Organizations like the Chamber of Commerce came about to regulate business and politicians like President Teddy Roosevelt fought to destroy big monopolies to increase competition and opportunities.
