Question

How did national interests shape policies related to regional commerce in the American system

Answer 1

The War of 1812 made it apparent the US needed to create industrial systems of their own to aid in self-sufficiency. Leading politicians at the time such as Henry Clay, John Q Adams, and John Calhoun, were in favor of the American System. This system would create a national approach to industrial systems laying the foundation for factory systems to be built. First tariffs to protect American products, second a national banking system, and third, a federally funded system of roads and canals. This system envisioned a plantation South with raw materials, a factory NE, and food production farming in the Midwest. The Midwest and NE became more and more connected between canals, roads, and eventually railways. The South resented the system as the tariffs hurt their international trade and they paid the bulk of taxes in the country which went to benefit the urban factory system developing in NE. Each region became specialized in the overall American economy. Expansion westward would bring the west in as a source of iron ore and lumber as well as many other natural resources needed for industrial production.