The American System
Henry Clay
The American Way
The American System is essentially a mercantilist economic plan. The plan consists of three equally underlining parts:
1. a tariff to protect and promote American industry
2. National bank to encourage commerce
3. federal subsidies for roads and canals to develop profitable markets for agriculture
What the Plan will do!
This plan will strengthen and unify the United States. A new form of federalism is created through this System, and the plan has been proposed by the Democratic-Republican Party, including brilliant men like Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun and John Quincy Adams.
Key Points of the plan:
-Development of a system roads and canals which would unite the nation together and be financed by the tariff and land sales revenues
-Support for a high tariff to protect American industries and generate income for the federal government
-Preservation of the Bank of the United States to stabilize the currency and lead in risky state and local banks
-Maintenance of high public land prices to produce federal revenue