Henry Clay's Holograph Outline for His Speech Defending the “American System”
[ no place ]: [ no date but 1832 ]. PRICE NET TO ALL. Twenty-one page manuscript, not signed, but in the hand of Henry Clay, U.S. Senator from Kentucky; no place, no date [but 1832]. Three bound gatherings of two sheets each, folded once vertically to make a total of 24 pages. Holograph recto and verso to all leaves, two pages blank at third gathering, docketed in a contemporary hand on the last page. Leaves toned and lightly soiled with occasional ink drip or smudge; few scattered corrections; overwriting to one page; several minor edge tears or creases. Good. Wraps. [24050]
Remarkable survival of the original outline in his own hand of Henry Clay's historic speech defending his views on a protective tariff, delivered during Senate sessions on February 2, 3, and 6, 1832. The Kentucky senator had long promoted the so-called “American System” in order to incubate domestic manufacture and launch an ambitious program of domestic improvement. Southern planters and their Congressional representatives generally were resistant to the idea. Sen. Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina attacked the plan in a January 16, 1832 speech on the Senate floor. Clay's rejoinder was printed as a 25-page pamphlet entitled Speech of Henry Clay in Defense of the American System; Delivered in the Senate of the United States...” and also appeared in Niles Register .(1)
Key concepts and phrases of Clay's final draft of this classic Senate speech are to be found in the outline as well. Following are a number of examples comparing the outline notes to the finished text:
[Gathering] “No. 1”
[Outline] “Stands here the humble but zealous advocate not of one State or of seven, but of the whole Union”
[Final draft] “Thus viewing the question, I stand here as the humble but zealous advocate, not of the interests of one state, or seven states only, but of the whole union.” (2)
[Outline] “Eight years ago it was my painful duty to present an unexaggerated picture of the general distress of the Country-”
[Final draft] “Eight years ago, it was my painful duty to present to the other house of congress an unexaggerated picture of the general distress pervading the whole land.” (3)
[Outline] “Now I have to perform the more pleasing duty of exhibiting a picture of the most unparalleled prosperity – Cultivation has greatly extended, the face of the whole Country is improved, our people are fully and profitably employed, and the public countenance generally exhibits contentment & happiness. Descend into particulars we find / A people out of debt / Land rising slowly in value but in a secure and salutary degree. A ready market for all the surplus productions of our industry. Innumerable flocks and herd browsing and gamboling on ten thousand hills & plains, covered with rich grasses. Our cities expanded, and whole villages, sprung as it were by enchantment, into existence.
Our Imports and Exports increased / Our tonnage of foreign and coasting augmented – The rivers of our Interior animated by the perpetual thunder and lightning of countless steamboats - / The currency sound and abundant - The whole public debt of two wars nearly paid – And to crown all we have an overflowing treasury.”
[Final draft] “I have now to perform the more pleasing task of exhibiting an imperfect sketch of the existing state of the unparalleled prosperity of the country. On a general survey, we behold cultivation extended, the arts flourishing, the face of the country improved, our people fully and profitably employed, and the public countenance exhibiting tranquility, contentment, and happiness. And if we descend into particulars, we have the agreeable contemplation of a people out of debt; land rising slowing in value, but in a secure and salutary degree; a ready though not extravagant market for all the surplus productions of our industry; innumerable flocks and herds browsing and gamboling on ten thousand hills and plains, covered with rich and verdant grasses; our cities expanded, and whole villages springing up, as it were, by enchantment; our exports and imports increased and increasing; our tonnage, foreign and coastwise, swelling and fully occupied; the rivers of our interior animated by the perpetual thunder and lightning of countless steamboats; the currency sound and abundant; the public treasury overflowing, embarrassing congress, not to find subjects of taxation, but to select the objects which shall be liberated from the impost.” (4)
[Outline] “The [turn?] and gratifying condition of the country has proceeded mainly from American legislation protecting American industry agst. [sic] foreign legislation.
“Prediction of the foes of the System in 1824-
1. Ruin of revenue & resort to direct taxes
2. Destruction of our navigation
3. Desolation of our Coml. Cities
4. Augmentation of the price of objects of consumption & reduction of that our of Exports
[Final draft] “This transformation of the condition of the country from gloom and distress to brightness and prosperity, has been mainly the work of American legislation, fostering American industry, instead of allowing it to be controlled by foreign legislation, cherishing foreign industry. The foes of the American system, in 1824, with great boldness and confidence, predicted, first, the ruin of the public revenue, and the creation of a necessity to resort to direct taxation... secondly, the destruction of our navigation; thirdly, the desolation of commercial cities; and, fourthly, the augmentation of the price of objects of consumption, and further decline in that of the articles of our exports. Every prediction which they have made has failed, utterly failed.” (5)
“Henry Clay's 'American System,' devised in the burst of nationalism that followed the War of 1812, remains one of the most historically significant examples of a government-sponsored program to harmonize and balance the nation's agriculture, commerce, and industry. This 'System' consisted of three mutually reenforcing parts: a tariff to protect and promote American industry; a national bank to foster commerce; and federal subsidies for roads, canals, and other 'internal improvements' to develop profitable markets for agriculture. Funds
for these subsidies would be obtained from tariffs and sales of public lands. Clay argued that a vigorously maintained system of sectional economic interdependence would eliminate the chance of renewed subservience to the free-trade, laissez-faire 'British System.' In the years from 1816 to 1828, Congress enacted programs supporting each of the American System's major elements. After the 1829 inauguration of President Andrew Jackson's administration, with its emphasis on a limited role for the federal government and sectional autonomy, the American System became the focus of anti-Jackson opposition that coalesced into the new Whig party under the leadership of Henry Clay.”(6)
One of the predominant American political figures of the first half of the nineteenth century, Henry Clay served three terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives (configuring that position for the exercise of political power), and served as US Secretary of State from 1825-1829. He served four terms in the House of Representatives. In 1806 and 1810 the Kentucky legislature selected Clay to fill briefly US Senate seats that had been vacated. In 1831 he was elected and rejoined the Senate, serving until 1842. In 1849 he was again elected as Senator, remaining in that post until his death in 1852.
References:
1. Seager & Hay, The Papers of Henry Clay, Vol. 8. (Lexington, 1983), p. 455-456.
2. The Life and Speeches of Hon. Henry Clay... Vol. II. NY: 1844, p. 6.
3. ibid.
4. ibid., pp. 6-7.
5. ibid., p. 7.
6. United States Senate website (http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Speeches_ClayAmericanSystem.htm)
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