American System: Henry Clay Vs. Andrew Jackson

Words: 879
Pages: 4

Ojas Devanathan
Professor Binkiewicz
History 172
12 November 2015
Henry Clay vs Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay are both significant figures during the nineteenth century. Clay with his proposal of the “American System” and Jackson responding to the Second Bank of the US and his actions towards it; each of them believed in their own personal ideals and helped contribute the development of America during the nineteenth century. Clay overall had brought better advancements in the nineteenth century with his idea of the American System. The American System is one of the most important aspects to shaping our nation to this day. After the war of 1812, all was going well in America. Americans decided to expand on their businesses.
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He thought it was ridiculous that only the wealthy and those who owned property could vote. Therefore, Jackson granted that all white men could now vote. He also wanted the nation to move west. Many people supported Jackson that a new political party was created under him, the Democratic party. Jackson was against the bank. He didn’t want the bank to have full control of the country’s money. In 1832, he didn’t allow the second bank of the US to be charted. He instead distributed the money into separate state banks which didn’t keep the money circulating in the economy. The state bank helped people borrow money to expand more westward but it also led to inflation. The state banks were also making their own money which caused inflation in the economy. Jackson tried to slow the inflation by having Americans use gold and silver instead of currency for westward expansion but it didn’t make much of a difference. In 1835, Jackson became one of the only presidents to pay off the US’ nation debt. Unfortunately, Jackson’s policies with the second bank led to the Panic of 1837 and brought the US national debt right back up. Jackson passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. This forced all the Indians down south to move west. This was not okay as it caused the Trail of Tears where thousands of Indians …show more content…
His idea of the American System helped the economy hugely. His internal improvements to help America become more independent was a key factor of the American System. His contributions and focus with internal improvements are responsible for the industrial based nation we are today. With the arrival of canals, railroads, steamboats, and such, the nation was able to come together and be more well knit. Then, the placement of tariffs, caused Americans to rely more on American goods than British goods. It’s also a shame to know that Jackson vetoed one of Clay’s internal improvements, the addition of Maysville Road. Clay was known for his compromises. The compromise of Missouri for instance, was when Missouri would be the slave state and Maine would be the free state to even it out. This situation could have led to a civil war. Then, the Compromise of 1850, solved for the moment with California being a free state with no rules with slavery in Utah and New Mexico. Although, the country was still debating on the issue of slavery, Clay came to a temporary solution. Clay wanted to make sure the nation didn’t get into a civil war due to the issue of slavery. Clay overall had better actions over Jackson. Jackson never liked Clay’s idea of chartering the Second Bank of the United States. Jackson also opposed the idea of internal improvements as he thought it would