Henry Clay and the American System, by Ari Sclar

[Now, eight years after the tariff of 1824], we behold cultivation extended, the arts flourishing, the face of the country improved, our people fully and profitably employed…This transformation of the condition of the country from gloom and distress to brightness and prosperity, has been mainly the work of American legislation, fostering American industry, instead of allowing it to be controlled by foreign legislation…”

• Henry Clay, ‘In Defense of the American System’, February 1832

1. What is Clay’s point of view regarding the role of government in domestic affairs? Would his opponent in the presidential election of 1832 agreed or disagreed with him? Explain.

1. Pick TWO of the following and explain whether Clay would have used as evidence to defend his assertion that the tariff took the country from ‘gloom and distress to brightness and prosperity’.

2. Establishment of the Second Bank of the United States

3. Panic of 1819

4. Canal Boom

5. Development of roads and steamboats