Final answer:
President Hayes's deployment of federal troops during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 marked a shift from strict laissez-faire capitalism to a more interventionist government role in labor disputes, setting a precedent for future actions by presidents Roosevelt and Cleveland.
Step-by-step explanation:
President Rutherford B. Hayes responded to the railroad strike in a way that significantly shifted the government's role in relation to laissez-faire capitalism. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 represented the first major, nationwide labor conflict in the United States, which prompted Hayes to take action by deploying federal troops to suppress the strike. This was a departure from a strict laissez-faire attitude because it involved direct governmental intervention in labor disputes.
The use of federal troops by Hayes, though primarily aimed at keeping peace and ensuring the flow of the economy (particularly the movement of mail), could be seen as a forerunner to later, more proactive government actions under presidents like Theodore Roosevelt and Grover Cleveland, who would further extend the federal power in labor disputes and economic regulation. For instance, Roosevelt's intervention in the coal strike of 1902 foreshadowed a new era of federal activism, while Cleveland's use of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act against the American Railway Union illustrated a shift in how government viewed and handled strikes affecting the national economy.