Defending The American System: Andrew Jackson And Henry Clay

Defending the American System The presidential election of 1824 saw the beginning of a new rivalry in American politics between future president, Andrew Jackson, and the Virginian, Henry Clay. Clay was heavily inspired by Alexander Hamilton, and thus, developed a similar economic plan that came to be known as the American System. The American System encompassed Clay's vision of America's economic future based on protective tariffs, a national bank, and internal improvement as key elements in American society, which he thought would pave the way for an industrial and flourishing U.S. economy. In his Defense of the American System, Henry Clay discussed the importance of the American System to the success and prosperity of the people and the government. He justified his belief by comparing two periods in American history in which the nation experienced depression and stagnation versus prosperity. The first discussed a period of seven years right before the passing of the tariff of 1824, which he portrayed as a time of "the most widespread dismay and desolation" in which the people "were then oppressed and borne down by an enormous load of debt (Norton Mix, 82)." The latter examined the period of

In the current situation, Jackson believed that the Indians would only live in constant warfare with Americans if they remained in the states, and that being "surrounded by the whites with their arts of civilization" would "doom him to weakness and decay (Norton Mix, 141)." He then argued that the nation's sense of "humanity and national honor demand that every effort should be made to avert so great a calamity (Norton Mix, 141)." By providing a solution for both sides, Jackson took on a sympathetic approach to justify the removal of the Indian tribes to the West of the Mississippi River where they "may be secured in the enjoyment of governments of their own choice (Norton Mix,