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Overview
This detailed study of Henry Clay and the American system - a program of vigorous economic nationalism dependent on active government intervention - reveals the important economic and constitutional aspects of what was perhaps Clay's greatest contribution to national policy, a contribution that has received surprisingly little study until now. During the first half of the nineteenth century the new United States experienced rapid material growth, transforming a largely agrarian, premodern economy into a diversified, industrializing one. As Speaker of the House in the years following the War of 1812, and later as a founder of the Whig party, Clay argued strongly for the development of a home market for domestic goods so that Americans would not be dependent on foreign imports. This "American System" was originally little more than a protective tariff on foreign goods, but it soon came to encompass a collection of policies that included a national banking system and distribution of federal funds to improve transportation. Baxter reveals the inner workings of Clay's program and offers the first careful analysis of its successes and failures.Editorials
From the Publisher
"A long-needed addition to the literature on Jacksonian Era politics." -- Southern Historian
"Clearly written and deals with an important topic that has surprisingly escaped book-length treatment until now." -- American Historical Review
"Now we have a thoroughly researched, carefully crafted study of Clay's major contribution to national policy. Maurice G. Baxter, professor emeritus at Indiana University, has written a comprehensive study of Clay's system, 'a biographical perspective upon economic history.'" -- Journal of American History
"It is refreshing to read a history that grounds Jacksonian debate over political economy in realities and prospects as Clay and his contemporaries understood them." -- Journal of Southern History
"A balanced, objective and highly readable account of one of the most interesting, important and controversial subjects of the early nineteenth century." -- Robert V. Remini
"A fine study by a first-rate historian, well-written, thoughtful, and interesting throughout." -- Journal of the Early Republic