What does the term American system mean?
Coined by Henry Clay, it is a program for economic development
in the 19th century. It was basically a plan to improve the United
States as a whole that included internal improvements (this meant
states' improvements), protective tariffs and a national bank. Many
Americans were not an advocate of this since the protective tariffs
restricted our trade, internal improvements only improves states
and not the US as a whole, and the national bank would lead to a
central authority. However, the Americans needed this system, as
during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, a non-supporter for the
American System that refused to have anything to do with it,
refused to do internal affairs, lowered tariffs, and dissolved the
National Bank, sending the US economy into a tailspin.