The Development of the American Economy
Before Henry Clay’s American system, America has been importing goods from outside of the country and only buying goods within their region. Clay’s American system helped America limit buying consumer products from foreign countries and increased the sales of local producers. The post-Civil westward expansion plays an important role in expanding farmlands for agriculture. Large quantities of food supply were available and railroads were used to transport these foods because it was fast, efficient and inexpensive. Henry Clay’s American system and the post-Civil War westward expansion, and the significance of railroads all helped shaped the transition of America’s economy from regional to national economy.
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A strong emphasis was put on the need for the federal government to play a strong role in the economy. The federal government would sponsor this system by unifying the nation's agriculture, commerce and industry (Classic Senate Speeches, 2017). The American system is composed of three reinforcing parts. One was a tariff that would protect and promote American industry as well as generate revenue for the federal government. They did this by taxing all goods that were purchased outside of the United States, this was to increase the sales of local producers. This strategy helps limit the amount of money being spent on foreign goods which help keep money within United States. Money will be used and spent within America. The second one was a national bank that would foster commerce to stabilize the currency in local banks. Currency will be stable and not fluctuate, and all states would have the same rate of a dollar. This was the Bank of the United States. The bank of United States offered easy credit to Americans. The third one was internal improvements for roads, canals and other subsidies (Classic Senate Speeches, 2017). This would be subsidized by tariffs and sales of public lands. The improvements will bring the nation together as well as generate federal revenue. The roads and canals will help agriculture travel from one place to another. States will be trading goods with one another instead of importing foreign goods which brings money out of the
Despite the financial troubles, most American’s still believed that American needed to commercially advance. Watson explained that Henry Clay’s American System, which was the Whig’s main platform, comprised of three main parts: economical protection via tariffs, transportation infrastructure and a banking and credit system that encourages the use of paper money. Clay believed that with the implementation of his economic system, citizens’ independence and individual prosperity would be improved. He believed that the improvement is a key idea in the republicanism ideology. On the other hand, Jackson preferred a simple agrarian society that had no place for a strong financial sector.
Following the War of 1812, the United States saw growth in transportation, federal government, and industrialization. Growth in transportation was evident of the War of 1812. As farmers shifted from growing just enough to sustain their families to producing crops for sale, demand grew for cheaper and faster ways to get goods to market. The United States’ way of transportation erupted. Many turnpikes
He wanted Americans to invest in a federal bank that could be used to pay foreign and local debts. In order to entice investors, he offered an annual four percent interest rate. This would allow investors to get rich on paper, but it also relied on the fact that everyone would not remove their money simultaneously. The introduction of this banking technique into America made such a huge impact, that it is still relevant today.
Henry Clay led the nationalistic Jeffersonian economic agenda. This agenda was known as the American System (Holt, 1999). It included high protective tariffs to nourish American manufacturing, create a home market for American agricultural products, a national bank to provide a currency and federal subsidization of internal improvement projects to ease the movement of goods (Holt, 1999). These nationalistic Jeffersons would eventually push through Congress and the current President at the time (President Madison) would sign laws that affected two parts of their program. The Federalist Party diminished after 1815 and many former Federalists embraced the Republican Party.
According to our book, the American System is an economic plan based on the idea that the federal government should encourage economic enterprise. The American System was stemmed from young Democratic-Republican who falsely supported Jefferson 's idea of a small federal government but actually preferred a large government. The goal of the new American System was to assist the united States in becoming self-sufficient economically, while spurring massive market growth throughout the nation. The leaders of this group were Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. They believed that the federal government should encourage economic enterprise in three ways: first, the federal government needed to create roads and canals which would be considered internal
In the late 1800s, the Transcontinental Railroad was constructed and that transformed the United States in many ways. This railroad helped expand the United States out to the west that could sew the country together and be connected in some sort of way. The Transcontinental Railroad impacted the United States economically by populating new areas for agriculture and mining, taxing railway shipping, and by importing and exporting. To start off with, a reason for an economic impact is the way the railroad helped populate new land that can open for mining, agriculture, and retail. Due to being able to mine, farm, and sell more helps the country expand in valuable resources found in the country, while also being able to sell food and clothes the
Additionally, due to the railroads being built all across America, new raw materials were able to be moved from city to city allowing for rapid industrial and manufacturing growth which America always was challenged of since its break from Britain. The industrial revolution following the Civil War also differed as agriculture began to become more valuable to a developing nation. For instance, whereas before farmers were isolated from one another and lived in separate homes, due to the reliance of the nation to use the profits derived from agriculture to get more money to buy manufacturing goods stimulating industry more farmers began to move to the cities changing their lives completely. Due to the decrease in the agricultural, scattered, and isolated communities in the Midwest, America was able to become a more compact economic, independent, and industrial powerhouse. For generations, America had relied on old-fashioned, traditional ways of creating
In 1870, the invention of the railroad made these trip attainable and the West accessible. Since the West was now more easily accessible, Americans were able to use the newly attained land to farm and transport goods back to the East. As a result, innovation and advances in farm equipment occurred, which boosted production. Therefore, the railroads changed how goods were transferred and made them more accessible to everyone.
Goods were shipped faster and at lower cost, and more land opened up for cotton growers and other farmers. Moreover, another technological development that influenced the growth of the United States economy was the development of railroads. Railroads were “shrinking distances, dramatically lowering costs, opening new markets, and increasing competition” (Doc 9). Railroads were basically essential for keeping the economy in balance. They supplied cities and towns with food, fuel, building materials, and access to markets.
The War Between the States was one of America’s greatest wars—it was the fight for freedom, but it also impacted the economy. Because of this, America’s labor and transportation systems both took a significant turn during the Civil War, impacting America’s economy forever. In the end, the American Civil War greatly benefitted our transportation system, but devastated the South’s labor force. For a war to be fought strategically well, there first must be a form of simple, yet speedy, transportation. That is where the transcontinental railroad came in.
Henry Clay believed that the future success of the Americas was to be dictated by the effectiveness of “The American System”. After the war of 1812, the United States was flooded with imports from Great Britain. Coffee, tea, textiles, sugar, and many other items were delivered to American ports by multiple British manufacturers as they unloaded their inventories into the American market. While these products helped fulfill the stifled demand for inexpensive consumer goods, they undermined domestic manufacturing in America. In order to generate more revenue, the United States began by putting in place high tariffs to help protect its domestic industries.
The United States American expansionism in the 1890's was motivated by the search of new markets and investment opportunities. Businesses created the expansion because the economy was so prosperous at this time. Mechanization and mass production allowed the industries in America to grow, which led to the growth of business, consumer goods and the overall American corporation. According to the textbook, the businesses interest shaped diplomatic and military strategy. Additionally, farm production increased, transportation systems improved and railroads were a significant factor.
Throughout American History, revolutions in transportation have affected the American society politically, socially and economically. Soon after the war of 1812, American nationalism increased which leads to a greater emphasis on national issues, the increase in power and prevalence of the national government and a growing sense of the American Identity. Railways, canals, and Turnpikes began to increase making many people employed. The era of 1830-1860 represents a shift from agrarianism to industrialism. Overall, during the transportation revolution, construction of turnpikes, roads, canals, and railroads led to the market economy expansion, an increased population in America and alternations of the physical landscape of America.
In response to Manifest Destiny, and westward expansion, agriculture became a major industry in the Midwest, South, and West. For the farmers, industrialization had
The first way that the economy was impacted was that with the ease and efficiency of the railroads, they created a large demand for goods and labor because they needed a lot of people to help build the railroads and also needed a large quantity of steel for the rails and wood for the railroad ties. Secondly the railroads created a huge national market because of the simplicity of delivering goods from place to place. The railroads helped the people in even the most rural place prosper with the cost efficient transportation of the trains. From 1830 to 1861, the United States laid aproximately 30,000 miles of railroad track, which led to an increase in demand for coal which was used to produce iron for the