Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.
After the War of 1812, the United States began growing geographically and economically. Foreign competition, economic nationalism, and the need for stronger national security led to proposals for a protective tariff to shield American manufacturing from foreign—especially British—competition. The debate over tariffs exposed growing sectional divides in the new republic. In general, southern planters resented tariffs, whereas northern manufacturers benefited from them. Tariffs artificially raised the price of imported goods, allowing northern merchants to set higher prices for their goods. Kentucky statesman Henry Clay (1777–1852) was a consistent tariff proponent throughout his long public career. As speaker of the House in 1824, Henry Clay put forth his idea of an American System of national development. A gifted orator, Clay’s full address filled two days, referenced several tables and charts, and took up forty pages in the Annals of Congress, which was a summary of the records of congressional debates from 1789 to 1824. His American System included tariffs that protected American industry, a national bank that stabilized currency and promoted trade, and internal improvements in the nation’s infrastructure that would link the economies of the United States. Clay’s speech led to the passage of the Tariff of 1824, but the debate over tariffs and the increasing sectionalism it created escalated in the following decade.
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