Socialism has never opposed capitalism but opposes, rather, the free market. K. Marx's book Capital is about the "proper" uses of capital and it's formation and control, not about whether it should exist or not. Free Capitalism might be a better term for the economic system that built America.
Not true. America was built on a moral and religious foundation. The original small-government society was possible, because people were largely self-regulating.
Free Capitalism naturally thrived in this environment, but it must be acknowledged that the early industrial tycoons were not particularly well-behaved. It's fine to blame "progressives" for the rise of big government, but it's necessary also to acknowledge that they were responding to the excesses and real wrong-doings of a "Free Capitalism."