University:
Arizona State University
Course:
HST 200 | Historical Themes
Academic year:

2024
Views:

364

Pages:

2
Author:

Thuyoul US

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS' PRESIDENCY The American System of high tariffs, a national bank, and government-sponsored internal improvements to roads and canals were all promoted by Secretary of State Clay. As soon as he took office, President Adams adopted Clay's American System and suggested creating a national university and naval school to educate the nation's future leaders. Opponents of the president seized upon the notion that the government was favoring a small, privileged class at the expense of common people, smelling elitism in these measures. Additionally, Clay had a wide variety of enhancements in mind for internal transportation. Adams supported building roads and canals to promote trade and the growth of Western settlement using the money from land sales in the region. A significant number of Congressmen vehemently opposed federal funding for internal improvements, arguing that the Constitution did not grant the federal government the authority to undertake such projects, among other objections. Ultimately, though, Adams was able to complete the federal highway project and extend the Cumberland Road into Ohio. On July 4, 1828, he also started work on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Clay and Adams supported tariffs, but they were not a new concept; from the republic's founding, tariffs have been considered as a means of advancing home production by raising the cost of imports. For example, in 1789, Congress adopted a tariff, and in 1790, Alexander Hamilton suggested a protective tariff. Tariffs were also passed by Congress in 1816 and 1824. Clay led the effort to have high tariffs imposed by the federal government in order to support domestic manufacturing. People would purchase things created in the United States if imports were more expensive than domestic goods. In particular; President Adams wanted to support industry in his native New England. In order to do this, he suggested in 1828 imposing a hefty charge on imports, equal to 50% of their value. The tariff sparked a contentious discussion about power distribution between proponents of states rights and proponents of the federal government's increased authority (Figure 10.6). States' rights advocates blasted the 1828 law as the Tariff of Abominations, seeing it as unmistakable proof that the federal government gave preference to one area-the North in this case- over another, the South. They used the fact that the North had a growing manufacturing base while the South did not to support their position. Because of this, the South imported significantly more manufactured products than the North, which resulted in the southern states bearing the brunt of the tariff. More anxieties were raised among Southerners by the tariff of 1828. Specifically, it implied to them that the federal government would act in a unilateral manner detrimental to the South. This line of thinking made some Southerners fear that a hostile northern majority in Congress would assault slavery, the fundamental institution that formed the foundation of the South. John C. Calhoun, the vice president under President Adams, served as the spokesperson for this southern perspective.