What was the "American System"?

Answer 1

The American System was a nationalistic program devised by Henry Clay in 1816 in hopes ot uniting the nation after the War of 1812. it consisted of three parts:

1. Internal improvements (roads, bridges, canals, railroads) This was designed to benefit the west in helping them get their raw materials to eastern markets
2. A renewed Bank of the United States. The first Bank of the United Sttes had been a part of Alexander Hamilton's "Four Point Economic" program back in the early 1790s. But this bank's charter had expired around the time of the War of 1812 and currently there was NO Bank of the United States. This was offered as a sop to eastern interests whose economy was heavily tied to banking, investing, and loaning money to western farmers.
3. A protective tariff. A tariff was needed since cheap British manufactured goods were flooding into the United States now that trade embargos had been lifted following the war (Embargo Act of 1807 and Non-Intercourse Act of 1810) Eastern manufacturers could not compete with these cheap imported finished goods and they demanded a tariff to even out the prices and hopefully RAISE the price of foreign goods to encourage Americans to purchase domestic items.


And there you have it.

Answer 2

This has two meanings:

a) an economic plan based on the "American School" ideas of Alexander Hamilton, expanded upon later by Friedrich List, consisting of a high tariff to support internal improvements such as road-building, and a national bank to encourage productive enterprise and form a national currency. This program was intended to allow the United States to grow and prosper, by providing a defense against the dumping of cheap foreign products, mainly at the time from the British Empire.

b) The American system of manufacturing involves semi-skilled labor using machine tools and templates (or jigs) to make standardized, identical, interchangeable parts, manufactured to a tolerance. The system is also known as the armory practice because of the history of its development by the United States Department of War in the Springfield and Harper's Ferry armories (Hounshell 1984).

Since parts are interchangeable, it is also possible to separate manufacture from assembly, and assembly may be carried out by semi-skilled labor on an assembly line - an example of the division of labor. The system typically involves substituting specialized machinery to replace hand tools.

Answer 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_System_%28economic_plan%29