Henry Clay

Henry Clay (April 12, 1777 in Hanover County, Virginia – June 29, 1852 in Washington, D.C.) was an American statesman and orator who served in both the House of Representatives and Senate. He also made five failed bids for the presidency, but was nevertheless extremely influential in U.S. politics.

Protectionism

He first championed protectionism by introducing a resolution introduced in the Kentucky legislature in 1808 which favored its members wearing home-made clothes. He introduced another in the United States Senate on behalf of home-grown and home-made supplies for the navy, but only to the point of making the nation independent of foreign supply.

Related Topics:
1808 - Navy

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In 1816, he advocated the Dallas tariff, with duties ranging up to 35% on articles of home production, the supply of which could satisfy the home demand; the avowed purpose being to build up certain industries for safety in time of war.

Related Topics:
1816 - Dallas tariff

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In 1824, he advocated high duties to relieve the prevailing economic distress, which he pictured in a brilliant and effective speech. Although they were caused by the reactionary effect of a disordered currency and the inflated prices of the War of 1812, he ascribed the problems to the country's dependence on foreign suppliers and markets. He said that the United Kingdom was a shining example of the wisdom of a high tariff; and no nation ever flourished without one. He closed his principal speech on the subject in the House of Representatives with a glowing appeal in behalf of what he called the "American System."

Related Topics:
1824 - War of 1812 - House of Representatives - American System

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Henry Clay's American System was a plan to strengthen the nation's economy by tying the North, South, and West together. It called for:

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• Federal funding of infrastructure improvements (such as the Erie Canal and a series of highways) funded by a raised tariff on imported goods.
• Using protective tariffs to encourage development of domestic industry.
• Reliance on domestic financial resources.

In spite of the opposition of Daniel Webster and other prominent statesmen, Clay succeeded in enacting a tariff which the people of the Southern states denounced as a "Tariff of Abominations." As it over-inflated revenue, in 1832 he vigorously favored reducing the tariff rates on all articles not competing with American products. His speech on behalf of the measure was for years a protectionist textbook; but the measure reduced the revenue so little and provoked such serious threats of nullification and secession in South Carolina, that, to prevent bloodshed and to forestall a free trade measure from the next Congress, Clay brought forward in 1833 a compromise gradually reducing the tariff rates to an average of 20%. To the Protectionists, this was "like a crash of thunder in winter," but it was received with such favor by the country generally, that its author was hailed as "The Great Pacificator," as he had been thirteen years before at the time of the Missouri Compromise (see below). However, the discontent with the tariff in the South was only a symptom of the real trouble there: the sensitivity of the slave-power. Clay subsequently confessed his serious doubts of the polity of his interference.

Related Topics:
Daniel Webster - Tariff of Abominations - 1832 - South Carolina - 1833 - Missouri Compromise

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