The American System
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General Information
Source:
NBC News
Resource Type:
Creator:
N/A
Copyright:
Event Date:
Air/Publish Date:
1820 - 1840
07/26/2007
Copyright Date:
Clip Length
Video MiniDocumentary
NBCUniversal Media,
LLC.
2007
00:02:16
Description
As a young nation, America desperately needs a national system of trade and transportation. But the
"American System," proposed by Speaker of the House Henry Clay, becomes a source of heated debate in
the Senate.
Keywords
American System, Henry Clay, Transportation, Industrial Revolution, Economy, Economic Development
, Society, Market, Tariffs, Banking, Canals, Roads, Railroads, Protective, John Steele Gordon
Transcript
The American System
NARRATOR: At the beginning of the 1800s, individual states controlled America’s systems of finance
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and transportation. But after the War of 1812, a nationalist sprit took hold of the country. Speaker of the
House Henry Clay wanted to tie states together through a national system of trade and transportation. He
called his proposal the “American System.”
Professor MATTHEW WARSHAUER (Central Connecticut State University): Clay believed that a strong
national bank, a set of very specific tariffs, and a creation of internal improvements – this whole economic
policy, this package put together, was what was best for the American economy.
NARRATOR: The American System had three goals: A strong central bank to provide cheap credit to
farmers and merchants. A tariff on foreign goods to protect America’s new industries from competition.
And a transportation system, connecting one state to another, to be paid for with revenue from the tariff.
JOHN STEELE GORDON, Author: Henry Clay, like so many western politicians, was very interested in
internal improvements. He wanted roads and canals, and later railroads built in order to connect the west
more firmly with the east.
NARRATOR: By 1816, Congress had taken Clay’s lead, establishing the Second Bank of the United
States and passing a protective tariff. But Clay had a harder time persuading some of his colleagues to
accept the third component of the American System: a federally funded network of transportation.
GORDON: The Federal government didn't have a specific mandate to do that. It's not in the Constitution,
saying, "Congress shall do such-and-such. " And therefore, the strict constructionists, as they were called,
thought that, you know, the federal government shouldn't do anything that the constitution didn't require it
to do. And they thought that states should handle it.
NARRATOR: In the end, the job of building the first roads, canals and railroads in this country did fall to
the states – and to private developers.
And the goals of Clay’s American System – crucial to America’s economic development – would
continue to be a source of heated debate between the federal government and the states for years to come.
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