401: Internal Improvements - The American System

WEBVTT

00:00:19.630 --> 00:00:24.109
John Quincy Adams, Inaugural Address 1825. Okay,

00:00:24.190 --> 00:00:26.850
now I need some context for that. And what does

00:00:26.850 --> 00:00:30.910
this mean? Well, this is... Him laying out his

00:00:30.910 --> 00:00:34.490
program for the United States. This sounds to

00:00:34.490 --> 00:00:39.030
me like an homage to the ancient civilizations,

00:00:39.149 --> 00:00:42.890
particularly ancient Greece and Rome, with their

00:00:42.890 --> 00:00:46.210
infrastructure, particularly in thinking of Rome,

00:00:46.409 --> 00:00:51.630
the aqueducts, the road system, the bridges,

00:00:51.710 --> 00:00:55.829
even the public temples and governmental buildings,

00:00:55.929 --> 00:01:01.609
and even the Colosseum. Welcome to the United

00:01:01.609 --> 00:01:04.870
States of Amnesia, the podcast that reminds us

00:01:04.870 --> 00:01:07.930
of what we have forgotten. History doesn't just

00:01:07.930 --> 00:01:10.769
tell us where we've been, it shapes how we understand

00:01:10.769 --> 00:01:13.989
the present. Yet the past is never as simple

00:01:13.989 --> 00:01:16.870
as we remember it. Over time, history becomes

00:01:16.870 --> 00:01:19.930
filtered through politics, ideology, and popular

00:01:19.930 --> 00:01:23.069
myth until the original story can be hard to

00:01:23.069 --> 00:01:26.790
recognize. History may not repeat itself, per

00:01:26.790 --> 00:01:30.890
se, but it often rhymes, as Mark Twain once remarked.

00:01:31.269 --> 00:01:34.769
Join Marshall Newman, Mike Mendenhall, and Blake

00:01:34.769 --> 00:01:37.849
Hinckley as we explore history, politics, religion,

00:01:38.209 --> 00:01:41.370
and the connections between them. By understanding

00:01:41.370 --> 00:01:44.329
the past more clearly, we can better understand

00:01:44.329 --> 00:01:47.750
the present and prepare for history's next rhyme.

00:01:59.289 --> 00:02:03.150
In the 1820s, Henry Clay proposed an activist

00:02:03.150 --> 00:02:06.549
role for the United States government in envisioning,

00:02:06.549 --> 00:02:10.370
funding, and overseeing improvements in America's

00:02:10.370 --> 00:02:12.909
infrastructure and in taking action to ensure

00:02:12.909 --> 00:02:16.590
economic stability in the fledgling United States.

00:02:16.750 --> 00:02:20.169
He called it the American system. But opposition

00:02:20.169 --> 00:02:22.990
to such activism arose based on the observation

00:02:22.990 --> 00:02:25.710
that the Constitution does not explicitly permit

00:02:25.710 --> 00:02:29.189
it. This series we call The American System explores

00:02:29.189 --> 00:02:31.870
America's choices in giving government a role

00:02:31.870 --> 00:02:34.669
in building things and in addressing economic

00:02:34.669 --> 00:02:37.449
challenges during the period from the War of

00:02:37.449 --> 00:02:41.050
1812 through the American Civil War. In this

00:02:41.050 --> 00:02:44.330
episode, we discuss how Clay and President John

00:02:44.330 --> 00:02:48.080
Quincy Adams, who proposed a program of internal

00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:51.039
improvements to American infrastructure were

00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:53.879
stymied by populist Democrats who feared that

00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:56.580
a government empowered to do such things would

00:02:56.580 --> 00:03:04.599
also gain the power to abolish slavery. Let's

00:03:04.599 --> 00:03:06.900
look at the state of the country in the early

00:03:06.900 --> 00:03:11.819
1820s. America in the 1820s, after the War of

00:03:11.819 --> 00:03:15.889
1812, might have been united politically. But

00:03:15.889 --> 00:03:19.569
it wasn't united economically. It was very difficult,

00:03:19.629 --> 00:03:24.189
except by moving goods and equipment up and down

00:03:24.189 --> 00:03:29.590
the Mississippi River to get goods, products,

00:03:29.930 --> 00:03:34.729
et cetera, to the markets of the East Coast.

00:03:34.969 --> 00:03:37.889
Or by mule cart. Or by mule cart. Over roads.

00:03:37.949 --> 00:03:40.909
And I remember hearing once that different states

00:03:40.909 --> 00:03:44.650
had different rules for road quality. And one

00:03:44.650 --> 00:03:48.009
state, Ohio or someplace, their roads couldn't

00:03:48.009 --> 00:03:50.509
have stumps any taller than 12 inches in the

00:03:50.509 --> 00:03:52.490
middle of the road. And then there was another

00:03:52.490 --> 00:03:53.830
state, I forget which one, which was more liberal

00:03:53.830 --> 00:03:55.710
about things, said the stumps could be 18 inches.

00:03:55.849 --> 00:03:58.150
But this was the state of roads in the United

00:03:58.150 --> 00:04:01.729
States in this early period. That could be troublesome

00:04:01.729 --> 00:04:05.689
for the carts going across and the mules. The

00:04:05.689 --> 00:04:10.800
most effective way to move goods and... items

00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:16.100
for sale was over water routes. And so one of

00:04:16.100 --> 00:04:19.639
the things that was being proposed here were

00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:23.360
a system of canals, also a system of roads, but

00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:26.800
canals were definitely the easiest way to facilitate

00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:30.500
trade in the 1820s. You could move a great deal

00:04:30.500 --> 00:04:32.720
in a barge. Yes. More than you could carry on

00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:34.560
a mule or pull in a wagon. All sorts of things

00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:36.779
recommended themselves. The example of the Erie

00:04:36.779 --> 00:04:39.300
Canal, which was a state project, not a federal

00:04:39.300 --> 00:04:43.160
project, and the aftereffects on New York City

00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:48.060
was an indicator of just how impressive the results

00:04:48.060 --> 00:04:51.899
could be if you're able to establish these links

00:04:51.899 --> 00:04:55.160
between the West, where agricultural goods and

00:04:55.160 --> 00:04:59.050
things like furs are brought in. What that did

00:04:59.050 --> 00:05:01.750
for New York, it made New York the single biggest

00:05:01.750 --> 00:05:05.430
trading hub in the United States with links throughout

00:05:05.430 --> 00:05:10.009
the East Coast and also to Europe. The Erie Canal

00:05:10.009 --> 00:05:13.129
runs west to east between Lake Erie and the Hudson

00:05:13.129 --> 00:05:18.240
River. It was completed in 1825. And with water

00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:20.680
traffic able to reach it from the Atlantic Ocean

00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:24.160
via the Hudson River, was the first navigable

00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:26.579
waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the

00:05:26.579 --> 00:05:30.699
upper Great Lakes above Niagara Falls. In other

00:05:30.699 --> 00:05:34.180
words, Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior.

00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:38.100
The opening of the canal vastly reduced the cost

00:05:38.100 --> 00:05:41.259
of transporting passengers and freight from U

00:05:41.259 --> 00:05:43.779
.S. territory west of the Appalachian Mountains.

00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:47.759
The Erie Canal accelerated the settlement of

00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:50.500
the Great Lakes region, the westward expansion

00:05:50.500 --> 00:05:54.139
of the United States, and the economic ascendancy

00:05:54.139 --> 00:05:57.360
of New York State in general and New York City

00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:02.439
in particular. So you basically have rivers as

00:06:02.439 --> 00:06:05.220
a way of moving things around and very terrible

00:06:05.220 --> 00:06:09.319
roads. In the 1820s, John Quincy Adams and Henry

00:06:09.319 --> 00:06:12.480
Clay, both in the Adams administration, and Clay

00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:14.639
separately as an unsuccessful candidate for the

00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:17.740
presidency, attempted a bold program of federal

00:06:17.740 --> 00:06:19.980
initiatives that were designed to improve the

00:06:19.980 --> 00:06:22.180
economic health of the nation, allowing both

00:06:22.180 --> 00:06:24.220
the nation and its citizens to realize their

00:06:24.220 --> 00:06:26.899
potential. The program, advanced by Adams, was

00:06:26.899 --> 00:06:29.699
referred to as Internal Improvements. Henry Clay's

00:06:29.699 --> 00:06:32.160
was known as the American System. The terms can

00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:34.560
more or less be used interchangeably. While there

00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:36.279
are some differences between philosophically,

00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:38.319
they are more or less the same approach to advancing

00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:41.759
government power. Both envisioned a more activist

00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:44.259
role for the federal government. This was not

00:06:44.259 --> 00:06:46.959
a sudden or crazy notion. Measures such as these

00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:49.019
that they were advocating could be traced back

00:06:49.019 --> 00:06:52.160
initially to those proposed by Alexander Hamilton

00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:55.879
in his 1791 report on manufacturers to Congress.

00:06:56.439 --> 00:06:58.740
Most of the founding fathers, even Hamilton's

00:06:58.740 --> 00:07:00.980
foe, Thomas Jefferson, according to his biographer,

00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:03.660
Duma Ballone, believed that some ability to improve

00:07:03.660 --> 00:07:06.240
the nation's economic health was within the power

00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:08.180
of the government and would be beneficial to

00:07:08.180 --> 00:07:27.060
the condition of the United States. The Cumberland

00:07:27.060 --> 00:07:30.100
Road was a road through Maryland heading westward,

00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:33.220
correct? Yes. Toward what would now be West Virginia.

00:07:33.339 --> 00:07:35.259
Yes. Back then was part of Virginia. It was also

00:07:35.259 --> 00:07:38.170
called the National Road. Yes. Right. But that

00:07:38.170 --> 00:07:41.149
was a major construction project of the— Major

00:07:41.149 --> 00:07:43.550
construction undertaking in order to facilitate

00:07:43.550 --> 00:07:47.410
the development of the West. Of the 1790s? Yes.

00:07:47.829 --> 00:07:50.069
And when people talk about the West in this context,

00:07:50.189 --> 00:07:51.529
they're not talking about the West as we understand

00:07:51.529 --> 00:07:52.649
it today. They're talking about what we would

00:07:52.649 --> 00:07:54.550
now call the Midwest. The Midwest, yes. The West

00:07:54.550 --> 00:07:57.230
was still part of Mexico, mostly. And this was

00:07:57.230 --> 00:07:59.449
an important component that you bring up. The

00:07:59.449 --> 00:08:03.050
idea of being able to settle the West, that is

00:08:03.050 --> 00:08:06.209
part of unlocking this potential. But it's also

00:08:06.209 --> 00:08:09.350
about being able to move goods and products that

00:08:09.350 --> 00:08:12.629
were produced in the West to the East Coast for

00:08:12.629 --> 00:08:15.529
sale there and elsewhere. And at the time, what

00:08:15.529 --> 00:08:17.930
farmers in what we would now call the Midwest,

00:08:18.250 --> 00:08:21.350
then the West, they had to move their goods.

00:08:21.899 --> 00:08:24.100
to market essentially by moving them down rivers

00:08:24.100 --> 00:08:26.480
the ohio river the missouri river the mississippi

00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:29.680
river whatever was nearby down towards the towards

00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:33.440
the south yes and it was a expensive laborious

00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:37.240
time consuming uh trip to do that so part of

00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:39.039
the idea was to give them better connections

00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:41.379
to the rest of the country and the outside world

00:08:41.379 --> 00:08:44.039
it cuts them off also from the east coast too

00:08:44.039 --> 00:08:48.519
yes you know and and and really being able to

00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:50.539
sell things in europe so like if you've got like

00:08:50.539 --> 00:08:53.860
some burrs that you amassed. There's only so

00:08:53.860 --> 00:08:56.059
much you can put in your mule cart. Yes. And

00:08:56.059 --> 00:08:58.740
drag across those terrible roads. Yes, with the

00:08:58.740 --> 00:09:02.940
stumps and so forth. Let's look at the political

00:09:02.940 --> 00:09:06.419
landscape leading up to the election of 1824.

00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:09.899
The election of 1824 brought John Quincy Adams

00:09:09.899 --> 00:09:14.250
into the White House. To lay the groundwork for

00:09:14.250 --> 00:09:17.809
this, there is only one national party at this

00:09:17.809 --> 00:09:21.350
time. The Federalist Party has disappeared and

00:09:21.350 --> 00:09:25.809
was unable to gain any more positions of authority,

00:09:25.950 --> 00:09:30.190
such as presidency. After John Adams. Now, this

00:09:30.190 --> 00:09:33.309
one party system that we had here, the Democratic

00:09:33.309 --> 00:09:36.049
Republican Party, this was this was Jefferson's

00:09:36.049 --> 00:09:38.309
creation. And because of the primitive nature

00:09:38.309 --> 00:09:41.450
of politics in this one party state, there were

00:09:41.450 --> 00:09:44.009
actually five candidates campaigning for the

00:09:44.009 --> 00:09:47.090
presidency. All of them were nominated by various

00:09:47.090 --> 00:09:50.350
elements of what was known as the National Republican

00:09:50.350 --> 00:09:53.950
Party, today's Democratic Party. It could involve

00:09:53.950 --> 00:09:57.169
something such as. compliant state legislatures

00:09:57.169 --> 00:10:01.850
nominating. I mention this because we need to

00:10:01.850 --> 00:10:03.950
look at three of them, John Quincy Adams, Henry

00:10:03.950 --> 00:10:06.950
Clay, and Andrew Jackson. As no candidate won

00:10:06.950 --> 00:10:09.149
a majority of votes in the Electoral College,

00:10:09.389 --> 00:10:12.230
the election was decided in the House of Representatives,

00:10:12.470 --> 00:10:16.940
as specified by the Constitution. Clay, who had

00:10:16.940 --> 00:10:19.039
made the first of many attempts at the presidency,

00:10:19.220 --> 00:10:20.860
was not one of the three candidates that were

00:10:20.860 --> 00:10:23.960
considered, which is unfortunate for him because

00:10:23.960 --> 00:10:27.320
he had the kind of pull within the legislature,

00:10:27.340 --> 00:10:31.440
both as a former Speaker of the House and also

00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:35.919
a member of the Senate, to install himself and

00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:38.299
get forth his programs. He was from Kentucky.

00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:41.840
He was from Kentucky. And what's also interesting

00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:44.460
about this election is we're seeing people from

00:10:45.159 --> 00:10:48.720
outside of the East Coast actually running for

00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:51.779
the presidency. So you have Jackson running from

00:10:51.779 --> 00:10:54.379
Tennessee. You have Clay running from Kentucky.

00:10:54.919 --> 00:10:56.919
You have Adams, of course, who's from Massachusetts.

00:10:57.539 --> 00:11:02.539
So he was not able to actually achieve this position

00:11:02.539 --> 00:11:06.620
as one of the first three. So even though he

00:11:06.620 --> 00:11:08.960
and Adams were about as unlike as any two people

00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:12.200
could be in terms of personality, they did share

00:11:12.200 --> 00:11:15.350
a common vision for the future of America. And

00:11:15.350 --> 00:11:17.529
this would in the short term be beneficial for

00:11:17.529 --> 00:11:20.330
Adams as it would be for Clay. Clay managed to

00:11:20.330 --> 00:11:24.889
find Adams enough votes in this election in the

00:11:24.889 --> 00:11:28.029
House to ensure that he became the president

00:11:28.029 --> 00:11:31.629
to triumph over Andrew Jackson, who was soon

00:11:31.629 --> 00:11:33.929
to establish his own competing vision of America

00:11:33.929 --> 00:11:36.990
with Van Buren. What's going on here, though,

00:11:37.049 --> 00:11:40.490
is that Adams and Jackson and all the others,

00:11:40.669 --> 00:11:43.840
they're not necessarily being... And I think

00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:46.019
this is an important consideration. They're not

00:11:46.019 --> 00:11:48.820
necessarily being elected by a popular vote,

00:11:48.940 --> 00:11:51.960
even if we factor in the Electoral College. It

00:11:51.960 --> 00:11:55.039
is up to the states to determine how the delegates

00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:58.299
for the Electoral College are selected. And sometimes

00:11:58.299 --> 00:12:02.460
in some states, such as New York and South Carolina

00:12:02.460 --> 00:12:05.460
to name two, it's the legislature that's doing

00:12:05.460 --> 00:12:07.120
this. They're the ones that are doing the voting.

00:12:07.259 --> 00:12:10.820
Election Day is just a day like any other for

00:12:10.820 --> 00:12:14.019
the people as a whole here. There is this notion

00:12:14.019 --> 00:12:17.120
that Adams came in and he was kind of a minority

00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:20.259
candidate, a candidate who did not have the popular

00:12:20.259 --> 00:12:22.840
will. The popular will is determined in this

00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:26.460
case by votes in the electoral college, something

00:12:26.460 --> 00:12:29.279
to keep in mind here. Electors were not tied

00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:31.879
to the popular vote in those days. No, not necessarily.

00:12:32.059 --> 00:12:33.620
The way they are now, they were supposed to use

00:12:33.620 --> 00:12:36.899
their own. conscience or something. The popular

00:12:36.899 --> 00:12:39.320
vote basically informed them what people in their

00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:41.620
state thought. But they were not bound to honor

00:12:41.620 --> 00:12:43.440
that. They could do something different if they

00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:45.279
wanted to. And there have been unfaithful electors

00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:49.879
over time. I mean, it was changing. And in Van

00:12:49.879 --> 00:12:51.600
Buren's state of New York, there was a lot of

00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:55.460
considerable pressure to make this not a function

00:12:55.460 --> 00:12:58.360
of the legislature, but also a function of the

00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:01.919
people as a whole being able to vote. And there

00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:05.519
was even an increase in one's ability to be able

00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:09.779
to vote. There was, in this coming age of democracy,

00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:14.590
7 to 8 percent of the U .S. population actually

00:13:14.590 --> 00:13:17.570
was able to engage in voting, as opposed to the

00:13:17.570 --> 00:13:21.129
one or two percent that elected the first five

00:13:21.129 --> 00:13:24.149
presidents of the United States. White -propertied

00:13:24.149 --> 00:13:28.190
men. Yes. So to get back to kind of the comings

00:13:28.190 --> 00:13:31.149
and goings, Clay's assistance in getting Adams

00:13:31.149 --> 00:13:34.629
elected prompted Adams to select Clay to the

00:13:34.629 --> 00:13:36.750
office of Secretary of State. This was the office

00:13:36.750 --> 00:13:40.409
that if you held it, everybody had. moved ahead

00:13:40.409 --> 00:13:43.830
to be president up until that point. Everybody

00:13:43.830 --> 00:13:47.029
who had been president was a secretary of state.

00:13:47.610 --> 00:13:50.710
Adams also sought to appoint Jackson to the cabinet,

00:13:50.750 --> 00:13:54.190
kind of like in a form of, say, like, you know,

00:13:54.210 --> 00:13:56.309
what we would associate with Lincoln, a cabinet

00:13:56.309 --> 00:14:00.649
of rivals, but Jackson refused. Jackson and his

00:14:00.649 --> 00:14:03.350
supporters would insist that this amounted to...

00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:07.399
ordinary politics that this was somewhat of a

00:14:07.399 --> 00:14:10.980
corrupt bargain, as though deal -making and so

00:14:10.980 --> 00:14:14.740
forth is not part of the whole experience of

00:14:14.740 --> 00:14:17.539
politics as a whole, going back to ancient times

00:14:17.539 --> 00:14:19.779
here. The idea of corruption, I think, is going

00:14:19.779 --> 00:14:21.919
to be a theme, too, as we look at criticisms

00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:24.860
of these proposals for infrastructure improvement.

00:14:25.059 --> 00:14:29.799
Yes. Just to finish that part off, Jackson would

00:14:29.799 --> 00:14:32.120
insist that he ought to have been elected president

00:14:32.120 --> 00:14:35.779
in 1824 due to what he termed the popular will

00:14:35.779 --> 00:14:38.419
of the people. But this was not the only way

00:14:38.419 --> 00:14:41.519
the president would be selected. If it was a

00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:44.440
matter of the will of the people, then he probably

00:14:44.440 --> 00:14:46.580
wouldn't have lacked a majority of votes in the

00:14:46.580 --> 00:14:50.139
electoral college. Still as now, Jackson's feigned

00:14:50.139 --> 00:14:53.669
outrage was useful in the subsequent. political

00:14:53.669 --> 00:14:56.129
contest. Let's bring this back to the American

00:14:56.129 --> 00:14:57.870
system and the internal improvements. Certainly.

00:14:58.590 --> 00:15:01.090
But I think it's worth understanding that there

00:15:01.090 --> 00:15:03.610
are certain dynamics that are afoot that are

00:15:03.610 --> 00:15:06.289
going to affect this. And this involves questions

00:15:06.289 --> 00:15:09.950
about popular will and what is good for the nation.

00:15:10.149 --> 00:15:11.509
I know where you're going with this. So yeah,

00:15:11.590 --> 00:15:13.769
I see where you're going. So let's move on toward

00:15:13.769 --> 00:15:17.340
it. The idea that Adams and Clay were trying

00:15:17.340 --> 00:15:20.340
to advance with their respective programs was

00:15:20.340 --> 00:15:22.539
to promote greater harmony among the industrial,

00:15:22.700 --> 00:15:24.919
commercial, and agricultural interests in the

00:15:24.919 --> 00:15:27.580
country. The idea behind this was to allow the

00:15:27.580 --> 00:15:29.500
United States to reach its full potential and

00:15:29.500 --> 00:15:33.000
advance economically. This did involve settlement

00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:37.159
of the West and having people go out there and

00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:41.000
exploit the resources to make better use of them.

00:15:41.389 --> 00:15:44.370
They favored a tariff on manufactured goods,

00:15:44.509 --> 00:15:46.669
not on items that were not grown or produced

00:15:46.669 --> 00:15:49.149
in the United States like now, but to protect

00:15:49.149 --> 00:15:51.529
industry so that it could catch up with Europe,

00:15:51.590 --> 00:15:53.570
and in particular Great Britain, then in the

00:15:53.570 --> 00:15:57.409
initial stages of industrial revolution. Clay

00:15:57.409 --> 00:15:59.250
also felt that economic development of the United

00:15:59.250 --> 00:16:01.830
States was necessary for it to remain independent.

00:16:03.409 --> 00:16:06.669
They figured that by unleashing this potential,

00:16:06.789 --> 00:16:10.200
this would ensure the United States future as

00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:14.100
an independent country. In an 1820 speech, Clay

00:16:14.100 --> 00:16:16.259
insisted the United States was still only sort

00:16:16.259 --> 00:16:19.080
of independent of Great Britain, politically

00:16:19.080 --> 00:16:23.139
free but commercially slaves. And Clay had a

00:16:23.139 --> 00:16:25.120
point given the influence of the trade with the

00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:28.019
Caribbean, which was British at the time, and

00:16:28.019 --> 00:16:31.860
still had on the United States' economy and the

00:16:31.860 --> 00:16:34.720
need to diversify trading partners, as we saw

00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:37.169
in our China series. The South in particular,

00:16:37.210 --> 00:16:40.070
I believe, relied on Great Britain for importation

00:16:40.070 --> 00:16:42.509
of cheap goods, manufactured goods and things

00:16:42.509 --> 00:16:45.350
like that. It sold cotton to Great Britain. Great

00:16:45.350 --> 00:16:48.070
Britain sent it fairly cheap manufactured goods

00:16:48.070 --> 00:16:49.649
in exchange. It was part of that part of the

00:16:49.649 --> 00:16:52.129
economy. Well, let's talk about that a little

00:16:52.129 --> 00:16:55.070
bit because we have not had Bretton Woods yet.

00:16:55.129 --> 00:16:57.669
And so the ability to have some sort of currency

00:16:57.669 --> 00:17:00.879
that is interchangeable. Unless you're talking

00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:04.740
about gold or silver, which is scarce. Bretton

00:17:04.740 --> 00:17:07.559
Woods is the post -war agreement that kind of—

00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:09.819
Post -World War II agreement. World War II agreement

00:17:09.819 --> 00:17:14.230
that allows for— conversion of currency and to

00:17:14.230 --> 00:17:16.410
facilitate trade amongst nations there. Based

00:17:16.410 --> 00:17:18.230
on a gold standard. Based on a gold standard,

00:17:18.369 --> 00:17:20.210
yes. To kind of regulate international currency.

00:17:20.230 --> 00:17:21.970
But that's after World War II. That's long in

00:17:21.970 --> 00:17:23.849
the future. That does not exist now. So that

00:17:23.849 --> 00:17:28.509
dynamic does not exist. So trading goods, what

00:17:28.509 --> 00:17:30.869
people would do, it's not like the plantation

00:17:30.869 --> 00:17:33.190
owner is going to go off and say, I need a new

00:17:33.190 --> 00:17:36.069
settee for the parlor there. He is going to take

00:17:36.069 --> 00:17:39.230
on these manufactured goods from Britain as payment.

00:17:39.960 --> 00:17:42.220
This is an easier way to facilitate payment.

00:17:42.339 --> 00:17:45.579
So it's closer to a barter system than a money

00:17:45.579 --> 00:17:49.460
economy. Because, again, gold and silver are

00:17:49.460 --> 00:17:51.460
the only things that are kind of convertible

00:17:51.460 --> 00:17:56.420
at this point. And having this ability to gain

00:17:56.420 --> 00:17:59.259
access to these manufactured goods and then sell

00:17:59.259 --> 00:18:01.660
them once you get back into the United States

00:18:01.660 --> 00:18:04.359
with them, that's a way for them to make money.

00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:09.880
This is kind of good for them because this solves

00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:12.920
the problem of making sales and stuff. You sell

00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:15.440
your stuff. You get money in pounds. You go buy

00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:19.059
stuff. You bring it back. in the ships that were

00:18:19.059 --> 00:18:22.500
emptied, kind of merchant trading there. But

00:18:22.500 --> 00:18:26.380
what this doesn't do is, say, in New England,

00:18:26.460 --> 00:18:28.720
if you have a furniture, since we're still talking

00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:31.400
about a sofa here, you have a furniture manufacturing

00:18:31.400 --> 00:18:34.759
system, they can't really sell much to the South

00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:37.420
because it's all coming in at cheaper prices

00:18:37.420 --> 00:18:42.539
from Britain. So this is how these things...

00:18:42.940 --> 00:18:45.180
could be working against each other. Agreed.

00:18:45.180 --> 00:18:47.220
But the point seems to be, though, from the sales

00:18:47.220 --> 00:18:48.740
point of view, they were perfectly happy with

00:18:48.740 --> 00:18:50.759
not worrying about whether the New England manufacturer

00:18:50.759 --> 00:18:52.500
made any money or not, as long as they got their

00:18:52.500 --> 00:18:54.720
cheap settee from Great Britain in exchange for

00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:56.299
the cotton. They were fine with that. Yes, they

00:18:56.299 --> 00:18:57.740
were perfectly fine. And that's an important

00:18:57.740 --> 00:18:59.779
thing to note as we go through the opposition,

00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:02.339
I think, to the internal improvements in the

00:19:02.339 --> 00:19:28.299
American system. Now, we've kind of talked about

00:19:28.299 --> 00:19:31.420
how this would benefit, say, people living on

00:19:31.420 --> 00:19:33.339
the East Coast, people who are urban dwellers.

00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:36.380
So there were benefits to the farmer because

00:19:36.380 --> 00:19:40.200
the American system, the internal improvements,

00:19:40.259 --> 00:19:43.400
offered federal subsidies for roads and canals

00:19:43.400 --> 00:19:45.359
to develop better and more competitive markets.

00:19:46.359 --> 00:19:48.960
Adams, given his love of learning and experiences

00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:51.539
in Europe, also favored the establishment of

00:19:51.539 --> 00:19:54.660
a national university along the lines of Cambridge

00:19:54.660 --> 00:19:58.819
or Oxford to enhance access to education, and

00:19:58.819 --> 00:20:02.740
most notoriously of all, in populist circles,

00:20:03.059 --> 00:20:07.579
an array of astronomical observation posts, which

00:20:07.579 --> 00:20:10.779
Adams referred to lighthouses of the sky. Now,

00:20:10.819 --> 00:20:12.720
we take it for granted that the government has

00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:17.430
an interest in being able to explore space. Adams

00:20:17.430 --> 00:20:21.170
was kind of an early adapter to this idea with

00:20:21.170 --> 00:20:23.589
this whole system of White Houses that existed.

00:20:24.029 --> 00:20:27.900
The populists hated this. although they were

00:20:27.900 --> 00:20:30.960
able to put through a certain institution known

00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:34.220
as the Naval Observatory here in D .C., but this

00:20:34.220 --> 00:20:36.440
was the only one of the reforms that Adams was

00:20:36.440 --> 00:20:39.180
able to pass in his first term. There was significant

00:20:39.180 --> 00:20:41.019
opposition to the United States government being

00:20:41.019 --> 00:20:42.819
involved in any kind of scientific endeavor.

00:20:43.240 --> 00:20:44.900
The Constitution doesn't say that the government

00:20:44.900 --> 00:20:47.500
could get engaged in science, therefore it can't.

00:20:47.619 --> 00:20:51.160
And it was widespread. I mentioned, I think it

00:20:51.160 --> 00:20:52.299
was in the America First series, I mentioned

00:20:52.299 --> 00:20:54.700
something called the United States Coast Survey

00:20:54.700 --> 00:20:56.740
that used to exist. And they kept trying to put

00:20:56.740 --> 00:20:58.539
it out of business in the 19th century because

00:20:58.539 --> 00:21:01.079
it did scientific things. So the government shouldn't

00:21:01.079 --> 00:21:02.819
do scientific things. So this kept coming up

00:21:02.819 --> 00:21:05.539
in many, many contexts back then. Another thing

00:21:05.539 --> 00:21:09.579
that was on the agenda was to establish a naval

00:21:09.579 --> 00:21:13.440
academy. And this was proposed to be something

00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:15.799
similar to West Point, which was in existence

00:21:15.799 --> 00:21:18.849
and served. to develop an officer class for the

00:21:18.849 --> 00:21:20.589
Army. This was going to do the same thing for

00:21:20.589 --> 00:21:24.130
the Navy. The Adamses were always big in favor

00:21:24.130 --> 00:21:27.589
of, you know, a large Navy. They were Navy people

00:21:27.589 --> 00:21:30.470
here. This would not be established under Adams,

00:21:30.569 --> 00:21:34.089
but in 1845 under James K. Polk's Secretary of

00:21:34.089 --> 00:21:37.990
the Navy, George Bancroft. One of the big projects

00:21:37.990 --> 00:21:40.170
that they favored was a national road from New

00:21:40.170 --> 00:21:43.960
Orleans to Washington and points east. as well

00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:46.799
as the Department of Interior, which would fund

00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:49.140
these internal improvements with land sales.

00:21:49.559 --> 00:21:51.859
This was an important component, and this is

00:21:51.859 --> 00:21:54.640
something that we will see persisting into the

00:21:54.640 --> 00:21:57.500
future here. And this is promoting the settlement

00:21:57.500 --> 00:22:00.059
of these lands by land -hungry Easterners, something

00:22:00.059 --> 00:22:03.279
that Clay felt the West needed to be developed.

00:22:03.380 --> 00:22:05.579
We needed to allow settlers to go out there.

00:22:05.619 --> 00:22:08.339
We needed to have a way to facilitate the purchase

00:22:08.339 --> 00:22:11.799
of land. And this was seen almost as a form of

00:22:11.799 --> 00:22:15.079
national defense because at the time we do not

00:22:15.079 --> 00:22:18.759
control the entire continent. And there was concern

00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:21.619
about European powers coming in and basically

00:22:21.619 --> 00:22:24.579
nipping at the edges of the American state such

00:22:24.579 --> 00:22:27.599
as it existed in 1825. So what is now Canada

00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:30.359
was still a British colonial possession at the

00:22:30.359 --> 00:22:34.359
time. Yes. Mexico, two -thirds of Mexico made

00:22:34.359 --> 00:22:38.849
up what is now the western United States. I think

00:22:38.849 --> 00:22:41.569
Mexico became independent only in 1820, was it?

00:22:41.650 --> 00:22:45.470
Yes. From Spain. So, you know, you did have significant

00:22:45.470 --> 00:22:46.990
parts of the United States which were directly

00:22:46.990 --> 00:22:52.049
bordering on foreign powers who could be a threat

00:22:52.049 --> 00:22:53.910
to the United States. And, I mean, given the

00:22:53.910 --> 00:22:56.450
performance of, let's just say, the U .S. military.

00:22:57.240 --> 00:23:00.160
as it existed. And the War of 1812 wasn't very

00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:02.819
good. It was miserable. It wasn't just a matter

00:23:02.819 --> 00:23:05.019
of not paying people. It was poorly organized.

00:23:05.339 --> 00:23:07.940
And this idea, this sort of like traditional

00:23:07.940 --> 00:23:11.460
idea of opposition to standing armies and military

00:23:11.460 --> 00:23:16.900
training, that kind of was proven to be a bad

00:23:16.900 --> 00:23:20.099
idea during the war. Recently recruited untrained

00:23:20.099 --> 00:23:22.640
militia can't really stand up to the most well

00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:24.549
-trained professional army in the world. Who

00:23:24.549 --> 00:23:27.369
knew? Yeah. Well, here... But one of the heroes

00:23:27.369 --> 00:23:30.450
of the War of 1812 was none other than Andrew

00:23:30.450 --> 00:23:35.509
Jackson. Yes. Now, here's an interesting... Jackson's...

00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:38.759
greatest biographer is a guy named Robert Remini

00:23:38.759 --> 00:23:42.539
and Robert Remini talks about Jackson when he

00:23:42.539 --> 00:23:45.440
was leading his own militia and he said by and

00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:47.920
large what these militias were were a chance

00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:51.880
for guys of a certain age to get dressed up in

00:23:51.880 --> 00:23:54.819
military finery and to like parade around the

00:23:54.819 --> 00:23:58.970
square in hopes of getting the attention of the

00:23:58.970 --> 00:24:02.809
fair sex, as he refers to it. So it was a dating

00:24:02.809 --> 00:24:06.799
system more so than a system of defense. Jackson

00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:09.119
was different in the sense that he did insist

00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:13.299
on discipline and his forces were actually well

00:24:13.299 --> 00:24:17.000
trained and capable. But he said, Remini says

00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:19.319
that by and large, this is an exception rather

00:24:19.319 --> 00:24:22.339
than the rule. So if we want to look at sort

00:24:22.339 --> 00:24:25.880
of root causes, you know, how we use the militia

00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:29.880
is kind of like it wasn't used as envisioned

00:24:29.880 --> 00:24:32.619
at the time there. For those unfamiliar with

00:24:32.619 --> 00:24:36.539
the history, Jackson. was at the Battle of New

00:24:36.539 --> 00:24:39.759
Orleans at the beginning of 1815, and the British

00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:41.339
were defeated pretty soundly in the Battle of

00:24:41.339 --> 00:24:42.880
New Orleans. There's a country song about it

00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:45.920
that was written a lot of years ago. But anyway,

00:24:46.099 --> 00:24:48.380
that's where Jackson came to national prominence,

00:24:48.380 --> 00:24:49.839
as my understanding is, from the Battle of New

00:24:49.839 --> 00:24:53.160
Orleans at the very end of the War of 1812. Although

00:24:53.160 --> 00:24:56.359
the war was over because Adams and Clay had already

00:24:56.359 --> 00:24:59.400
negotiated it at the Treaty of Ghent in 1814.

00:24:59.420 --> 00:25:01.400
But the word had not arrived in New Orleans yet.

00:25:01.619 --> 00:25:03.180
No, it hadn't. To either side. To either side,

00:25:03.299 --> 00:25:05.299
yes. So that battle was fought after the war

00:25:05.299 --> 00:25:08.059
ended. Now, there were some differences between

00:25:08.059 --> 00:25:11.279
Clay and Adams, and this was in the area of foreign

00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:13.619
affairs. Clay was much more enthusiastic about

00:25:13.619 --> 00:25:16.900
recognizing the nascent republics of Latin America

00:25:16.900 --> 00:25:19.700
than Adams was. Adams wasn't opposed to it, but

00:25:19.700 --> 00:25:22.740
he wasn't really wanting to force the issue.

00:25:23.099 --> 00:25:25.839
The forces that would stand in opposition to

00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:29.000
Adams and Clay would be horrified at the thought

00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:31.799
of treating governments headed by Hispanics as

00:25:31.799 --> 00:25:34.160
equals, and they were concerned that this could

00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:36.440
undermine the racial code essential to maintaining

00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:39.839
slavery. Although slavery is not discussed in

00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:45.299
this context, this was an issue that I think

00:25:45.299 --> 00:25:47.559
was present in the background as a force for

00:25:47.559 --> 00:25:50.940
shaping the debate. My understanding of this

00:25:50.940 --> 00:25:54.940
is that Clay's And Adams' goal was to stitch

00:25:54.940 --> 00:25:57.799
together the United States into a unified whole.

00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:01.599
Yes. Through transportation, through economic

00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:04.920
relationships. Interrelationships. Interrelationships.

00:26:05.240 --> 00:26:08.940
And there's a summary that I've seen here about

00:26:08.940 --> 00:26:11.299
how this was supposed to work. But the idea in

00:26:11.299 --> 00:26:13.740
Clay's vision was that the East would manufacture

00:26:13.740 --> 00:26:16.660
goods for the rest of the United States. The

00:26:16.660 --> 00:26:18.559
West, which we would now consider to be the Midwest.

00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:21.619
Yes. It would grow grain and it would raise livestock.

00:26:22.329 --> 00:26:25.789
to feed the workers in the East. Yes. The South

00:26:25.789 --> 00:26:28.829
would grow cotton. The cotton would then be used

00:26:28.829 --> 00:26:31.670
to supply northern textile mills to make textiles

00:26:31.670 --> 00:26:48.559
in the United States. That was his vision. take

00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:51.559
a quick step back and realize the colonies started

00:26:51.559 --> 00:26:55.400
out and they you know this was a very regional

00:26:55.400 --> 00:26:59.380
approach yes to settlement and the colonies became

00:26:59.380 --> 00:27:04.950
the states they were almost semi -sovereign Well,

00:27:05.109 --> 00:27:07.890
they're sovereign realms because they do have

00:27:07.890 --> 00:27:11.690
sovereignty over a large number of issues and

00:27:11.690 --> 00:27:15.390
aspects. Right. And travel was difficult. Yes.

00:27:15.410 --> 00:27:17.730
And you couldn't get very far. A lot of people

00:27:17.730 --> 00:27:20.430
didn't leave their own state for the most part.

00:27:20.650 --> 00:27:23.930
So you have, and they were kind of glued together

00:27:23.930 --> 00:27:26.630
under the Constitution. With this Constitution,

00:27:26.970 --> 00:27:29.470
yes. And remember. The Articles of Confederation

00:27:29.470 --> 00:27:32.369
failed because it didn't have enough federal

00:27:32.369 --> 00:27:35.750
power. So the Constitution was in some ways a

00:27:35.750 --> 00:27:40.849
redo. Yes. Well, it was definitely a different

00:27:40.849 --> 00:27:42.750
approach and it was beyond anything the Articles

00:27:42.750 --> 00:27:45.569
of Confederation had mentioned there. So the

00:27:45.569 --> 00:27:48.309
Articles of Confederation were very weak because

00:27:48.309 --> 00:27:51.349
the colonies forming the United States did not

00:27:51.349 --> 00:27:53.910
want to have a strong central government at all

00:27:53.910 --> 00:27:55.549
because they didn't trust one another. They didn't

00:27:55.549 --> 00:27:56.970
want each other to use the central government

00:27:56.970 --> 00:28:01.220
against. one another. The Articles of Confederation

00:28:01.220 --> 00:28:05.480
went into effect in 1781 and remained in effect

00:28:05.480 --> 00:28:08.160
until 1789 when the U .S. Constitution officially

00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:12.660
went into effect. The last state ratified it

00:28:12.660 --> 00:28:15.400
in 1788, that was Rhode Island. So the Constitution

00:28:15.400 --> 00:28:17.359
was in effect and then we had the modern presidency

00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:20.319
created with George Washington becoming the first

00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:23.920
president in 1789. But keep in mind that even

00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:26.160
under the Constitution, there was concern that

00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:27.759
the government federal government would become

00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:29.440
too strong, would infringe on state sovereignty.

00:28:30.099 --> 00:28:31.960
And as a result, the Bill of Rights includes

00:28:31.960 --> 00:28:35.460
issues that preserve state sovereignty, that

00:28:35.460 --> 00:28:36.980
reserve rights to the states and things like

00:28:36.980 --> 00:28:39.880
that. So this issue of having too strong a federal

00:28:39.880 --> 00:28:42.160
government was right there at the foundation.

00:28:42.980 --> 00:28:46.859
And the sense of a national unity that we have

00:28:46.859 --> 00:28:49.859
now, I don't think came along until arguably,

00:28:50.099 --> 00:28:51.619
well, certainly not until after the Civil War.

00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:53.559
And some argue until not after, it's like World

00:28:53.559 --> 00:28:56.089
War I. In a lot of ways. But that's another issue.

00:28:57.789 --> 00:29:01.130
All right. Going back to the foundation. All

00:29:01.130 --> 00:29:03.170
right. So we've got the Constitution. There are

00:29:03.170 --> 00:29:05.589
certain powers that the government, the federal

00:29:05.589 --> 00:29:09.069
government, can do. Yes. And there's plenty of

00:29:09.069 --> 00:29:13.769
stuff that is unsaid in there. You know, you

00:29:13.769 --> 00:29:15.529
can make an argument that some of it's implied.

00:29:15.650 --> 00:29:18.289
Sure. Yeah. But there are certain powers that

00:29:18.289 --> 00:29:22.710
the government has. And there was a large faction.

00:29:23.420 --> 00:29:26.319
that believed if the Constitution did not explicitly

00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:29.279
say that the federal government can do blah blah

00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:33.079
blah, that you can't. Yes, and I looked at this

00:29:33.079 --> 00:29:36.339
when doing the research for it, and it's kind

00:29:36.339 --> 00:29:38.859
of interesting. The federal government doesn't

00:29:38.859 --> 00:29:40.920
actually have the power to go in and conquer

00:29:40.920 --> 00:29:43.180
and incorporate new territory either, which is

00:29:43.180 --> 00:29:45.460
what the opponents of internal improvements were

00:29:45.460 --> 00:29:48.299
really much hell -bent on. But we did a lot of

00:29:48.299 --> 00:29:51.839
that. We did a lot of that because what happens,

00:29:51.960 --> 00:29:54.180
unfortunately, is that we end up with an era

00:29:54.180 --> 00:29:58.400
of populism in which Jackson and company continue

00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:01.759
to... pursue a policy of manifest destiny, which

00:30:01.759 --> 00:30:04.960
was very popular with people, the idea of a bigger,

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:07.619
better United States. That's later on. That's

00:30:07.619 --> 00:30:10.480
later on. Although the Constitution does not

00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:38.940
specifically... So, no one... To get back to

00:30:38.940 --> 00:30:41.440
the notion of what the Constitution was and what

00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:44.559
the Constitution said, no one, especially the

00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:46.880
leaders in the passage of the Constitution, absolutely

00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:49.180
ruled out the possibility of the federal government

00:30:49.180 --> 00:30:52.480
having a role in the economic sphere. But then

00:30:52.480 --> 00:30:55.039
there was a debate over that that came along

00:30:55.039 --> 00:30:59.619
very early in this entire discussion of internal

00:30:59.619 --> 00:31:02.420
improvements or the American system. So this

00:31:02.420 --> 00:31:05.039
comes down to a fundamental disagreement over

00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:07.099
the Constitution, which... still exists today

00:31:07.099 --> 00:31:10.140
to some extent, over the difference between strict

00:31:10.140 --> 00:31:13.640
constructionism and what I've heard called loose

00:31:13.640 --> 00:31:15.619
constructionism, but also apparently it's called

00:31:15.619 --> 00:31:18.900
broad constructionism. Strict constructionism

00:31:18.900 --> 00:31:22.140
holds that the United States government, the

00:31:22.140 --> 00:31:24.980
federal government, cannot do anything that is

00:31:24.980 --> 00:31:27.700
not explicitly mentioned in and permitted by

00:31:27.700 --> 00:31:30.119
the Constitution. You cannot assume it has any

00:31:30.119 --> 00:31:34.740
other powers at all that aren't explicitly mentioned.

00:31:35.720 --> 00:31:38.220
Those who support the broad constitutional or

00:31:38.220 --> 00:31:42.140
loose constitutional interpretation, in contrast,

00:31:42.440 --> 00:31:45.240
say that the government actually has fairly far

00:31:45.240 --> 00:31:48.160
-ranging powers to do things under the general

00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:50.779
welfare clause. They're allowed to provide for

00:31:50.779 --> 00:31:53.220
the general welfare. And also under their power

00:31:53.220 --> 00:31:55.700
to regulate interstate commerce. Those are the

00:31:55.700 --> 00:31:58.680
two foundations of that argument. It largely

00:31:58.680 --> 00:32:01.140
remains unresolved today. One or the other will

00:32:01.140 --> 00:32:03.240
wax or wane depending on who's in power. But

00:32:03.240 --> 00:32:08.920
the argument continues today. Let's dive into

00:32:08.920 --> 00:32:11.359
the provisions of the most controversial elements

00:32:11.359 --> 00:32:13.539
of the Internal Improvements Program, if we can

00:32:13.539 --> 00:32:16.119
be permitted to call it that. The Bank of the

00:32:16.119 --> 00:32:18.259
United States, which functioned as a kind of

00:32:18.259 --> 00:32:20.519
national bank, both in terms of promoting credit

00:32:20.519 --> 00:32:24.039
and stabilizing currency, was an immediate target

00:32:24.039 --> 00:32:27.680
for these individuals, these forces. This is

00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:30.180
kind of a difficult concept. I'm going to try

00:32:30.180 --> 00:32:32.859
to explain it as succinctly as possible. The

00:32:32.859 --> 00:32:36.160
national bank was kind of like this vast capital

00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:40.599
reserve. institution that existed to fund things

00:32:40.599 --> 00:32:44.099
on a rather large -scale basis. Like, for example,

00:32:44.339 --> 00:32:47.099
the First National Bank funded the Louisiana

00:32:47.099 --> 00:32:49.539
Purchase, which was millions of dollars. This

00:32:49.539 --> 00:32:51.759
was the First Bank of the United States was the

00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:53.480
term they used for it, right? Yes. The First

00:32:53.480 --> 00:32:55.680
Bank of the United States. Where we are in things

00:32:55.680 --> 00:33:00.779
now is they let the charter lapse on the First

00:33:00.779 --> 00:33:04.779
Bank, and then They found it very difficult to

00:33:04.779 --> 00:33:06.660
wage the War of 1812. This was one of the big

00:33:06.660 --> 00:33:08.900
problems with the War of 1812, is the lack of

00:33:08.900 --> 00:33:12.140
access to capital. So one of the things that

00:33:12.140 --> 00:33:14.420
they did, kind of the lessons learned, was to

00:33:14.420 --> 00:33:16.740
recharter the Second Bank of the United States.

00:33:16.839 --> 00:33:19.700
So there was this institution that was capable

00:33:19.700 --> 00:33:22.319
of providing the federal government and others

00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:27.440
with large access to capital here. So this was

00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:30.480
something that for some of these programs that

00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:33.619
were wanted, this was a necessary institution,

00:33:33.920 --> 00:33:37.359
having a federally chartered bank. It also stabilized

00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:40.680
currency and interest rates. So it kind of acted

00:33:40.680 --> 00:33:44.180
like the Bank of England in some respects. This

00:33:44.180 --> 00:33:47.099
was Hamilton's original vision for this institution.

00:33:47.799 --> 00:33:50.880
It was a kind of public -private hybrid institution

00:33:50.880 --> 00:33:53.680
that would kind of be like what the Federal Reserve

00:33:53.680 --> 00:33:56.950
became 100 or so years later. The way it worked,

00:33:57.210 --> 00:33:59.970
I think, tell me where I'm wrong, is that the

00:33:59.970 --> 00:34:02.809
federal government controlled its money and it

00:34:02.809 --> 00:34:06.009
placed it in private banks. And that was the

00:34:06.009 --> 00:34:08.510
private... As the Bank of the United States,

00:34:08.610 --> 00:34:11.250
you had an account in private banks. And that's

00:34:11.250 --> 00:34:13.389
where the tax money went. And that was the public

00:34:13.389 --> 00:34:15.989
-private partnership that they worked out. Yeah,

00:34:16.070 --> 00:34:20.010
okay. It was a sort of favored bank that existed

00:34:20.010 --> 00:34:23.929
because it had all these... other powers that

00:34:23.929 --> 00:34:25.789
were beneficial to the federal government. So

00:34:25.789 --> 00:34:28.750
the federal government is using it to place its

00:34:28.750 --> 00:34:33.630
cash deposits there. So that was the first Bank

00:34:33.630 --> 00:34:35.650
of the United States in Hamilton's time in the

00:34:35.650 --> 00:34:40.329
1790s and such. They did away with it? Yes. They

00:34:40.329 --> 00:34:43.469
did away with it. Why? because they were opposed

00:34:43.469 --> 00:34:48.170
to the power of this bank having its influence.

00:34:48.269 --> 00:34:50.389
This was something that Democrats really hated,

00:34:50.429 --> 00:34:53.030
like Jefferson's Democrats really hated this

00:34:53.030 --> 00:34:55.210
Bank of the United States. They did not like

00:34:55.210 --> 00:34:57.869
banks. They thought them sinks of corruption,

00:34:58.110 --> 00:35:01.929
etc. However, during the War of 1812, without

00:35:01.929 --> 00:35:06.440
a bank, the Treasury went bankrupt. and soldiers

00:35:06.440 --> 00:35:09.880
were not paid. And as soon as the war was over,

00:35:10.079 --> 00:35:12.280
they rechartered a bank, and they kind of learned

00:35:12.280 --> 00:35:14.880
their lesson. This would have been Madison, Jefferson's

00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:16.699
protege. And that's known as the Second Bank

00:35:16.699 --> 00:35:18.480
of the United States. Which is what is in existence

00:35:18.480 --> 00:35:21.559
in the 1820s. That was chartered in 1816. Yes,

00:35:21.659 --> 00:35:23.739
right after the end of the war. The war ended

00:35:23.739 --> 00:35:27.559
in 1814, it was chartered in 1816. Yes. So let's

00:35:27.559 --> 00:35:31.699
frame this real quickly. We created a bank to

00:35:31.699 --> 00:35:35.289
handle federal money. Yes. People opposed it

00:35:35.289 --> 00:35:36.809
because they thought it gave the federal government

00:35:36.809 --> 00:35:39.130
too much power and because they thought it led

00:35:39.130 --> 00:35:41.670
to corruption as well. They thought there were

00:35:41.670 --> 00:35:43.969
like Eastern banking interests that were corruptly

00:35:43.969 --> 00:35:46.989
handling and benefiting from the money. So they

00:35:46.989 --> 00:35:50.989
did away with it. Then they went broke fighting

00:35:50.989 --> 00:35:52.730
the War of 1812 and decided they needed that

00:35:52.730 --> 00:35:54.510
bank after all. Yes. Then they chartered the

00:35:54.510 --> 00:35:57.559
second bank. Yes. So now here we are again. Here

00:35:57.559 --> 00:35:59.960
we are again. It's still controversial. Still

00:35:59.960 --> 00:36:01.539
controversial for the same reasons. Yes, for

00:36:01.539 --> 00:36:03.860
the same reasons. And it's, you know, we will

00:36:03.860 --> 00:36:07.539
get into some of this. The original institution,

00:36:07.860 --> 00:36:10.539
as we said, was a creation of Hamilton. And despite

00:36:10.539 --> 00:36:12.760
disdain from the likes of Jefferson, who wasn't

00:36:12.760 --> 00:36:14.980
above using the bank as a means to finance Louisiana

00:36:14.980 --> 00:36:18.340
purchase, had survived with a second charter

00:36:18.340 --> 00:36:23.579
into the 1820s. For a time... The problems the

00:36:23.579 --> 00:36:25.860
United States had in funding the War of 1812

00:36:25.860 --> 00:36:27.980
without a national bank was sufficient to prevent

00:36:27.980 --> 00:36:31.400
opposition to the second bank. A national bank

00:36:31.400 --> 00:36:33.860
capable of providing credit at consistent interest

00:36:33.860 --> 00:36:36.199
rates would have been useful, the charter for

00:36:36.199 --> 00:36:38.639
the first bank having expired in 1812 and not

00:36:38.639 --> 00:36:41.780
renewed. Despite the bank's utility, particularly

00:36:41.780 --> 00:36:44.059
in light of financial difficulties incurred during

00:36:44.059 --> 00:36:47.079
the War of 1812, it was to be opposed and eliminated

00:36:47.079 --> 00:36:51.820
by Jackson, Van Buren, Calhoun, etc. It was eliminated

00:36:51.820 --> 00:36:54.860
in, the charter was revoked in 1836. Yes. It

00:36:54.860 --> 00:36:57.380
existed for 20 years. And then it technically

00:36:57.380 --> 00:37:00.579
continued to exist, but it withered away and

00:37:00.579 --> 00:37:03.019
finally disappeared in like 1841 or something

00:37:03.019 --> 00:37:06.050
like that. Under scandal. It had no... U .S.

00:37:06.050 --> 00:37:08.250
money in it anymore. I think that's how Jackson

00:37:08.250 --> 00:37:09.550
got rid of it. He just took all the money out.

00:37:09.550 --> 00:37:11.510
Yeah, he took all the money out and he gave it

00:37:11.510 --> 00:37:13.570
to state banks. But we're not there yet. We're

00:37:13.570 --> 00:37:17.050
not there yet. The problem with all of this was

00:37:17.050 --> 00:37:20.230
that without a national bank, a bank of the United

00:37:20.230 --> 00:37:23.309
States, you had to put money in state banks.

00:37:23.829 --> 00:37:27.170
And state banks were fairly unregulated and unreliable.

00:37:27.429 --> 00:37:29.809
Yes. Some were better than others. Some were

00:37:29.809 --> 00:37:33.050
better than others, but some were pretty sketchy

00:37:33.050 --> 00:37:37.239
banks, apparently. So without regulation, without

00:37:37.239 --> 00:37:39.159
any kind of controls, banks doing whatever they

00:37:39.159 --> 00:37:41.820
wanted to do and scattered among different states

00:37:41.820 --> 00:37:43.920
under different regulations, the financial picture

00:37:43.920 --> 00:37:46.619
was a real mess in the United States. And so

00:37:46.619 --> 00:37:50.579
consider this. If you have very unreliable financing

00:37:50.579 --> 00:37:54.139
for projects, you are not going to be able to

00:37:54.139 --> 00:37:57.039
construct U .S. Steel, for example, the sort

00:37:57.039 --> 00:37:59.760
of big... corporations that existed after the

00:37:59.760 --> 00:38:02.300
Civil War are just not possible at this stage.

00:38:02.760 --> 00:38:06.579
Now, I will say this. New York had the strictest

00:38:06.579 --> 00:38:10.400
regulations known to man within the United States

00:38:10.400 --> 00:38:12.639
during this period. They had had a number of

00:38:12.639 --> 00:38:15.880
runs on the bank, and this was something Van

00:38:15.880 --> 00:38:20.739
Buren, as a political leader, was behind here.

00:38:21.320 --> 00:38:23.659
This set the stage for New York becoming kind

00:38:23.659 --> 00:38:26.239
of like the financial capital of the United States.

00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:31.179
You don't have a single source that you can go

00:38:31.179 --> 00:38:34.940
to outside of New York. And I mean, even if you're

00:38:34.940 --> 00:38:36.659
looking at New York with the big banks that are

00:38:36.659 --> 00:38:39.320
developing there, this is not enough to be able

00:38:39.320 --> 00:38:43.280
to fund a grandiose federal project or to fund

00:38:43.280 --> 00:38:47.719
a war of the size and scale of, say, 1812 or

00:38:47.719 --> 00:38:51.639
the Civil War, a national contest there. You

00:38:51.639 --> 00:38:54.159
do not have the resources to be able to do something

00:38:54.159 --> 00:38:57.679
like this. And you're having to go and... borrow

00:38:57.679 --> 00:39:01.420
from various other places, whose interest rates

00:39:01.420 --> 00:39:04.739
will vary. And they'll vary on the side of being

00:39:04.739 --> 00:39:07.840
higher rather than lower. And I mean, another

00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:10.599
issue that to consider is that there's nothing

00:39:10.599 --> 00:39:12.699
wrong with being a private bank. But if you're

00:39:12.699 --> 00:39:14.599
a private bank, you're a private firm, you're

00:39:14.599 --> 00:39:16.639
trying to make a profit. Yes. If you don't think

00:39:16.639 --> 00:39:18.219
that something is going to be profitable for

00:39:18.219 --> 00:39:19.800
you, you're not going to loan the money if you

00:39:19.800 --> 00:39:21.949
don't think the loan is a good risk. Yes. So

00:39:21.949 --> 00:39:23.610
you can't get the money to do the projects you

00:39:23.610 --> 00:39:25.389
want to do unless the bank agrees to do it. It's

00:39:25.389 --> 00:39:28.030
not like the government is allocating money in

00:39:28.030 --> 00:39:29.769
that case. It's trying to borrow it, and it can't.

00:39:30.039 --> 00:39:33.159
And it's a sense of desperation, too, because

00:39:33.159 --> 00:39:35.719
if you're desperate for money, they're not going

00:39:35.719 --> 00:39:38.619
to basically run a charity organization. They're

00:39:38.619 --> 00:39:41.079
going to basically say, I'm going to charge you

00:39:41.079 --> 00:39:43.860
what I think I can get out of you in order to

00:39:43.860 --> 00:39:46.980
advance my profits. That's capitalism. That's

00:39:46.980 --> 00:39:50.079
capitalism. And this is something that I would

00:39:50.079 --> 00:39:52.440
argue the people that were opposed to a national

00:39:52.440 --> 00:39:55.320
bank did not quite. readily understand here.

00:39:55.519 --> 00:40:00.539
Well, from my research on this topic, it's not

00:40:00.539 --> 00:40:04.760
as if what they thought was idiotic or something.

00:40:05.199 --> 00:40:08.199
It's true that they didn't think a lot of the

00:40:08.199 --> 00:40:11.380
things through that you're bringing up. But there

00:40:11.380 --> 00:40:13.480
were problems with both the first and second.

00:40:14.619 --> 00:40:16.360
banks of the United States from the perspective

00:40:16.360 --> 00:40:18.739
of their critics, which had some validity to

00:40:18.739 --> 00:40:21.320
it. So, for example, they said that it was an

00:40:21.320 --> 00:40:24.800
inherently corrupt system because it wound up

00:40:24.800 --> 00:40:31.159
letting the government put money into banks that

00:40:31.159 --> 00:40:35.400
favored Eastern banking interests. You know,

00:40:35.440 --> 00:40:36.860
nowadays you would say they were picking winners

00:40:36.860 --> 00:40:38.639
and losers is what people would say nowadays.

00:40:38.860 --> 00:40:41.599
It let them do that. There could be cronyism.

00:40:41.639 --> 00:40:43.320
I don't know the extent that there was cronyism,

00:40:43.380 --> 00:40:45.340
but there probably was some, I would assume,

00:40:45.420 --> 00:40:47.940
in that kind of an arrangement. So you kind of

00:40:47.940 --> 00:40:51.099
had Eastern elites loaning money to Eastern elites

00:40:51.099 --> 00:40:53.639
under the direction of Eastern elites and profiting

00:40:53.639 --> 00:40:56.559
off those loans and those kinds of things. The

00:40:56.559 --> 00:40:59.539
bottom line being that it isn't that the Bank

00:40:59.539 --> 00:41:01.239
of the United States, either the first or second

00:41:01.239 --> 00:41:02.840
Bank of the United States, were without fault.

00:41:03.369 --> 00:41:05.469
There were some grounds for criticism of those

00:41:05.469 --> 00:41:08.309
banks. There were big advantages to having the

00:41:08.309 --> 00:41:11.329
banks. The critics were completely wrong to oppose

00:41:11.329 --> 00:41:13.329
at least some aspects of the banks and how they

00:41:13.329 --> 00:41:15.369
operated. I think to be fair, you have to say

00:41:15.369 --> 00:41:18.650
that. Yes. And I mean, I would argue that one

00:41:18.650 --> 00:41:20.510
of the things that the United States suffers

00:41:20.510 --> 00:41:22.550
from throughout the majority of its history is

00:41:22.550 --> 00:41:27.070
under -regulated banking. And this is... at the

00:41:27.070 --> 00:41:29.829
national level. And I mean, one of the issues

00:41:29.829 --> 00:41:32.230
that they also had was that the bank would tend

00:41:32.230 --> 00:41:35.269
to favor, like you said, picking winners and

00:41:35.269 --> 00:41:37.230
losers, but not just economically, but politically.

00:41:37.449 --> 00:41:39.309
And this is where Jackson has his issue with

00:41:39.309 --> 00:41:42.449
it. He views the bank, and this is somewhat charming,

00:41:42.510 --> 00:41:45.710
consider today's idea of equating money with

00:41:45.710 --> 00:41:48.710
speech and the ability of corporations to fund

00:41:48.710 --> 00:41:51.670
electoral campaigns. The idea that there was

00:41:51.670 --> 00:41:55.519
this institution that was actually operating

00:41:55.519 --> 00:41:57.619
within the political sphere, this commercial

00:41:57.619 --> 00:42:01.099
institution, this had to be eliminated in Jackson's

00:42:01.099 --> 00:42:03.820
mind because it had overstepped the boundaries

00:42:03.820 --> 00:42:08.940
of its natural sphere, which was economic. It

00:42:08.940 --> 00:42:12.480
was interfering in politics, particularly in

00:42:12.480 --> 00:42:18.039
the election of 1832. Jackson's second term.

00:42:18.420 --> 00:42:21.639
Now, I will also add that the absence of having

00:42:21.639 --> 00:42:24.699
something like a national bank would create problems

00:42:24.699 --> 00:42:27.000
for the United States when it was fighting the

00:42:27.000 --> 00:42:30.139
Civil War, just to look ahead a little bit. And

00:42:30.139 --> 00:42:32.340
this will be one of the main incentives to kind

00:42:32.340 --> 00:42:37.119
of revitalize Clay and Adams's proposals in the

00:42:37.119 --> 00:42:42.440
1860s. The Jacksonians also favored a kind of

00:42:42.440 --> 00:42:45.820
haphazard support of state banks and hard currency.

00:42:46.750 --> 00:42:50.969
Paper money was issued by uncapitalized state

00:42:50.969 --> 00:42:55.230
banks. It was permitted. But federal preference

00:42:55.230 --> 00:42:58.010
was for hard currency, gold and silver. Now,

00:42:58.010 --> 00:43:00.750
gold and silver are always in short supply, and

00:43:00.750 --> 00:43:03.090
being able to amass sufficient gold and silver

00:43:03.090 --> 00:43:06.030
to be able to carry out transactions is problematic

00:43:06.030 --> 00:43:08.369
for a lot of people, particularly people in the

00:43:08.369 --> 00:43:13.690
West. And this has kind of a chilling effect

00:43:13.690 --> 00:43:17.610
on... the purchase of federal lands. So Clay

00:43:17.610 --> 00:43:19.969
and Adams, they want people to be able to have

00:43:19.969 --> 00:43:23.250
access to land out west. Jackson and company,

00:43:23.349 --> 00:43:26.090
they want these payments to be made in gold and

00:43:26.090 --> 00:43:28.670
silver when you're buying federal lands, when

00:43:28.670 --> 00:43:30.250
you're gaining access to federal lands, which

00:43:30.250 --> 00:43:34.269
is going to make this that much harder. And it's

00:43:34.269 --> 00:43:38.989
unusual for people in public life to know next

00:43:38.989 --> 00:43:41.969
to nothing about economics. This Jacksonian approach

00:43:41.969 --> 00:43:46.489
is in a class by himself. in a sense that its

00:43:46.489 --> 00:43:49.409
course destabilized the U .S. economy, I would

00:43:49.409 --> 00:43:53.570
argue. Okay, so let's review here. So at the

00:43:53.570 --> 00:43:56.869
time, we're talking in the 1820s, there was no

00:43:56.869 --> 00:43:59.409
national paper currency. No, there wasn't. The

00:43:59.409 --> 00:44:03.590
only national currency was what we called specie,

00:44:03.670 --> 00:44:05.610
meaning gold and silver. Gold and silver. Right,

00:44:05.690 --> 00:44:09.389
coins. Coins. Paper money was not the paper money

00:44:09.389 --> 00:44:13.010
of today. No. Were we making coins? Yes. Okay,

00:44:13.090 --> 00:44:16.590
so we were making gold and silver. Coins. Coinage.

00:44:16.690 --> 00:44:20.150
Yes. Okay, good. We had the Department of Treasury.

00:44:20.170 --> 00:44:21.409
Yes, we had the Treasury Department. They were

00:44:21.409 --> 00:44:24.230
issuing. And the Mint, and they were like putting

00:44:24.230 --> 00:44:27.110
out coins. Payments to the federal government

00:44:27.110 --> 00:44:30.460
were generally made in. gold and silver or specie.

00:44:30.699 --> 00:44:34.579
That's where they got it. And so round and round

00:44:34.579 --> 00:44:38.059
things went in terms of this gold and silver

00:44:38.059 --> 00:44:40.559
circulating through the economy here. Government

00:44:40.559 --> 00:44:42.380
is going to use that money to pay for certain

00:44:42.380 --> 00:44:44.639
things, not nearly at the same level as it is

00:44:44.639 --> 00:44:47.420
now, but gold and silver is going to be in circulation

00:44:47.420 --> 00:44:51.659
through the government's coining system and so

00:44:51.659 --> 00:44:54.900
forth. And they could, you know, the raw gold

00:44:54.900 --> 00:44:57.329
and silver could also be purchased, acquired,

00:44:57.670 --> 00:45:02.630
and transmitted for sale of federal lands, which

00:45:02.630 --> 00:45:06.349
is a major source of revenue. Also things like

00:45:06.349 --> 00:45:09.010
the tariffs. But in terms of paper money, it

00:45:09.010 --> 00:45:11.349
was chaotic. Yes. It wasn't really necessarily

00:45:11.349 --> 00:45:14.929
backed by anything. The banks would have some

00:45:14.929 --> 00:45:17.610
specie, some gold or silver in their vaults,

00:45:17.610 --> 00:45:21.389
which backed the money. But banks... make money

00:45:21.389 --> 00:45:23.670
by loaning out more money than they have on hand.

00:45:23.829 --> 00:45:26.550
That's how banking works. And so if you were

00:45:26.550 --> 00:45:28.530
to go back in and try to exchange your paper

00:45:28.530 --> 00:45:31.289
money for whatever gold and silver was in the

00:45:31.289 --> 00:45:32.989
vault, the bank would run out pretty quickly.

00:45:33.829 --> 00:45:35.530
Also, because the paper money didn't have any

00:45:35.530 --> 00:45:38.210
particular value attached to it, you could just

00:45:38.210 --> 00:45:39.630
print more of it. And what happens when you print

00:45:39.630 --> 00:45:42.210
more money? You get inflation. So these kind

00:45:42.210 --> 00:45:44.190
of problems are plaguing the early republic without

00:45:44.190 --> 00:45:46.909
any central control really over money because

00:45:46.909 --> 00:45:49.429
it was just done by individual banks. And with

00:45:49.429 --> 00:45:52.650
the paper money being under the individual bank's

00:45:52.650 --> 00:45:55.070
control, you didn't have any stable currency.

00:45:55.130 --> 00:45:57.150
There was no national currency, at least not

00:45:57.150 --> 00:46:00.010
paper money. So these were big issues that they

00:46:00.010 --> 00:46:02.250
were dealing with in the time of Adams and Jackson.

00:46:02.570 --> 00:46:06.469
And the states have a kind of odd and irregular

00:46:06.469 --> 00:46:10.170
approach to regulation. There is no single regulation

00:46:10.170 --> 00:46:13.730
of the banking system. Each state regulates the

00:46:13.730 --> 00:46:15.769
banks under its jurisdiction. It can have different

00:46:15.769 --> 00:46:17.489
regulations depending on what the state legislature

00:46:17.489 --> 00:46:19.730
decided to do. So again, all sorts of different

00:46:19.730 --> 00:46:22.429
rules. This gets very tangential, but if I am

00:46:22.429 --> 00:46:27.570
in, let's say, Tennessee, and I have a bank note

00:46:27.570 --> 00:46:31.949
from a private bank, can I go to Kentucky? Yes,

00:46:31.949 --> 00:46:36.289
you can. And use it. Maybe. Maybe. All right,

00:46:36.329 --> 00:46:37.889
so there's a couple of things that could happen

00:46:37.889 --> 00:46:43.530
if you did that. So one is, best situation, you

00:46:43.530 --> 00:46:47.670
get full value for your money when you take it

00:46:47.670 --> 00:46:51.460
to, A different state. A different state. The

00:46:51.460 --> 00:46:54.159
other is you might get a discounted rate, which

00:46:54.159 --> 00:46:57.760
is less than face value. And then the third option

00:46:57.760 --> 00:47:00.659
is they don't even know what the hell this is

00:47:00.659 --> 00:47:03.519
and they refuse to honor it. Now, think about

00:47:03.519 --> 00:47:06.380
this in terms of being able to develop a kind

00:47:06.380 --> 00:47:10.059
of national economy. If you can't have your money

00:47:10.059 --> 00:47:13.460
be able to be used in different states or even

00:47:13.460 --> 00:47:18.059
different cities, you could get... banknotes

00:47:18.059 --> 00:47:23.159
from a city in Tennessee and go to a different

00:47:23.159 --> 00:47:25.380
city in Tennessee and they may or may not be

00:47:25.380 --> 00:47:28.119
accepted. So if you have Canadian money in your

00:47:28.119 --> 00:47:30.800
wallet right now and walk down to the 7 -Eleven

00:47:30.800 --> 00:47:33.019
and try to buy something with your Canadian money

00:47:33.019 --> 00:47:35.460
here in Virginia, you're not going to be able

00:47:35.460 --> 00:47:37.079
to buy anything. Unless it's gold or silver.

00:47:37.519 --> 00:47:40.420
That's kind of what it was like between different

00:47:40.420 --> 00:47:44.099
states in those days. Or within states. Or within

00:47:44.099 --> 00:47:46.500
states. Or within states. Because it's like just

00:47:46.500 --> 00:47:48.980
because you're in a state doesn't mean that Bank

00:47:48.980 --> 00:47:52.280
A is going to accept your note from Bank B there.

00:47:52.619 --> 00:47:55.699
Were British pounds still circulating? Define

00:47:55.699 --> 00:47:57.699
British pounds. Are you talking like hard currency

00:47:57.699 --> 00:48:01.539
or gold and silver? I guess they only had coinage

00:48:01.539 --> 00:48:04.320
as well. Coinage would be accepted and they would

00:48:04.320 --> 00:48:08.820
weigh it. I mean like Spanish currency I think

00:48:08.820 --> 00:48:13.409
was pretty much accepted. In coinage. Okay. So

00:48:13.409 --> 00:48:16.590
if I had Canadian gold or silver. Yes. I could

00:48:16.590 --> 00:48:19.070
use it, probably. Sure. Oddly enough, it's through.

00:48:19.110 --> 00:48:20.610
In the United States. Yeah. You know, if I'm

00:48:20.610 --> 00:48:24.349
in Kentucky. Spanish coinage was in use, especially,

00:48:24.409 --> 00:48:25.889
I think, in the South, which is closer to the

00:48:25.889 --> 00:48:28.369
Spanish. Yeah. The former Spanish Empire. And

00:48:28.369 --> 00:48:30.650
there's trading going on. People used Spanish

00:48:30.650 --> 00:48:33.610
money in the early United States. It was accepted

00:48:33.610 --> 00:48:35.670
because it was coin. Yeah. Right. Okay. I got

00:48:35.670 --> 00:48:38.130
you. It was specie. Specie. Yes. I know. We got

00:48:38.130 --> 00:48:57.960
to use that word. It was specie. As we already

00:48:57.960 --> 00:49:00.960
have alluded to, the changes to the U .S. government's

00:49:00.960 --> 00:49:04.300
role in infrastructure development, banking and

00:49:04.300 --> 00:49:07.500
currency that John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay

00:49:07.500 --> 00:49:11.659
championed met significant opposition through

00:49:11.659 --> 00:49:14.860
figures such as Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren

00:49:14.860 --> 00:49:18.539
and John Calhoun. Let's look at that opposition

00:49:18.539 --> 00:49:22.219
more closely, beginning with the effect our opening

00:49:22.219 --> 00:49:25.360
quote from John Quincy Adams' inaugural address

00:49:25.360 --> 00:49:29.960
had on American politics. At the time when this

00:49:29.960 --> 00:49:33.769
was delivered. It apparently had the effect of

00:49:33.769 --> 00:49:37.050
blowing the lid off the top of the Capitol. This

00:49:37.050 --> 00:49:39.110
was the words of Martin Van Buren, who had a

00:49:39.110 --> 00:49:41.469
decidedly different approach to the powers of

00:49:41.469 --> 00:49:43.349
the federal government. The future president.

00:49:43.489 --> 00:49:45.570
The future president. But at the time, he's very

00:49:45.570 --> 00:49:48.949
much a fixture of New York politics and becoming

00:49:48.949 --> 00:49:52.590
closer to Andrew Jackson, as we will see. Opposition

00:49:52.590 --> 00:49:55.949
to the approach advanced by... Adams and Clay,

00:49:56.230 --> 00:49:59.670
beginning in the 1820s, commenced almost as soon

00:49:59.670 --> 00:50:02.449
as these proposals were made. Opponents in the

00:50:02.449 --> 00:50:05.449
camp of Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and

00:50:05.449 --> 00:50:08.630
John Calcone, who was vice president at the time

00:50:08.630 --> 00:50:11.750
to Adams, represented forces that would make

00:50:11.750 --> 00:50:13.929
the antebellum Democratic Party raise concerns.

00:50:14.789 --> 00:50:19.559
This is about desire on the part of John Quincy

00:50:19.559 --> 00:50:23.480
Adams and others, Henry Clay for one, to unleash

00:50:23.480 --> 00:50:26.820
the potential economic power of the United States.

00:50:27.360 --> 00:50:30.659
And even though this sounds kind of innocuous

00:50:30.659 --> 00:50:37.219
and a good idea, people oppose this. People literally

00:50:37.219 --> 00:50:40.699
did things that undermined the U .S.'s ability

00:50:40.699 --> 00:50:44.920
to be able to reach its full potential. In the

00:50:44.920 --> 00:50:48.079
1820s, these were controversial, if not radical,

00:50:48.179 --> 00:50:51.380
notions of government. Opponents of John Quincy

00:50:51.380 --> 00:50:53.739
Adams actually viewed his advocacy of these sorts

00:50:53.739 --> 00:50:56.460
of measures as a political blunder, which would

00:50:56.460 --> 00:50:58.320
be part of the effort that would be used to seat

00:50:58.320 --> 00:51:00.380
him when he ran for re -election. And when you

00:51:00.380 --> 00:51:03.079
say these were, you're talking about ideas of?

00:51:03.260 --> 00:51:05.199
The role of the federal government to affect

00:51:05.199 --> 00:51:08.260
internal improvements to unleash the economic

00:51:08.260 --> 00:51:11.460
potential of the United States. Infrastructure.

00:51:11.760 --> 00:51:13.599
Yeah, infrastructure. And I mean, we take it

00:51:13.599 --> 00:51:15.400
for granted that the government's going to build

00:51:15.400 --> 00:51:18.079
interstate highway system, that we're going to

00:51:18.079 --> 00:51:21.420
see things to sort of support the economy on

00:51:21.420 --> 00:51:24.239
the part of the government. Back then in the

00:51:24.239 --> 00:51:28.039
1820s, particularly after the Compromise of 1820,

00:51:28.159 --> 00:51:30.820
when slavery reared its ugly head for the first

00:51:30.820 --> 00:51:34.679
time, people in the South got a little bit suspicious

00:51:34.679 --> 00:51:38.420
of a powerful federal government to be able to

00:51:38.420 --> 00:51:42.750
kind of impugn its peculiar institution, that

00:51:42.750 --> 00:51:47.289
of slavery. For reference, the Compromise of

00:51:47.289 --> 00:51:50.750
1820, also called the Missouri Compromise, was

00:51:50.750 --> 00:51:55.110
a U .S. law passed on March 3, 1820, and signed

00:51:55.110 --> 00:51:59.070
by President James Monroe. It kept a tie in Congress

00:51:59.070 --> 00:52:02.730
between free and slave states by admitting Maine

00:52:02.730 --> 00:52:06.090
as a free state and Missouri as a slave state.

00:52:06.599 --> 00:52:09.500
while banning slavery north of the 36 degrees,

00:52:09.679 --> 00:52:14.099
30 seconds line. The quote that says the most

00:52:14.099 --> 00:52:17.239
about these sentiments is, if the government

00:52:17.239 --> 00:52:21.480
can build a canal, it can abolish slavery. So

00:52:21.480 --> 00:52:23.880
an empowered federal government is something

00:52:23.880 --> 00:52:27.420
that the opponents of Adams and Henry Clay are

00:52:27.420 --> 00:52:31.460
going to use to... undermine, even though it's

00:52:31.460 --> 00:52:34.300
to the detriment of the nation as a whole. And

00:52:34.300 --> 00:52:36.800
if we put this into the larger context, this

00:52:36.800 --> 00:52:39.380
explains why certain things in the United States,

00:52:39.519 --> 00:52:41.980
things like access to education, access to health

00:52:41.980 --> 00:52:43.920
care, things like this, which would actually

00:52:43.920 --> 00:52:47.440
be beneficial to the people as a whole, other

00:52:47.440 --> 00:52:49.739
people oppose them. But very much at the time,

00:52:49.800 --> 00:52:53.059
a lot of these were, I guess, fairly new ideas.

00:52:53.199 --> 00:52:54.860
We've become more used to them now, as you were

00:52:54.860 --> 00:52:57.400
saying, Marshall. They were pretty new ideas

00:52:57.400 --> 00:53:00.500
at the time, and it raised the hackles of a lot

00:53:00.500 --> 00:53:02.159
of people who were worried about the federal

00:53:02.159 --> 00:53:04.659
government having too much power. And you'll

00:53:04.659 --> 00:53:06.619
remember when we talked in the previous series,

00:53:06.800 --> 00:53:08.860
the Christian Nation series about the Founding

00:53:08.860 --> 00:53:11.739
Fathers, I remember I mentioned that George Mason,

00:53:11.920 --> 00:53:14.420
when he wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights,

00:53:14.619 --> 00:53:17.400
and then was later concerned about the inclusion

00:53:17.400 --> 00:53:19.679
of a Bill of Rights in the U .S. Constitution

00:53:19.679 --> 00:53:22.599
when it was written later, one of his major concerns

00:53:22.599 --> 00:53:24.739
was that the Constitution without a Bill of Rights

00:53:24.739 --> 00:53:26.989
would give the federal government too much power

00:53:26.989 --> 00:53:30.309
over states. And so this issue of state sovereignty

00:53:30.309 --> 00:53:31.849
within the federal system was very important

00:53:31.849 --> 00:53:35.030
to a lot of people back at that time. So there

00:53:35.030 --> 00:53:40.090
was a worry that the idea of having the federal

00:53:40.090 --> 00:53:43.590
government fund internal improvements, funding

00:53:43.590 --> 00:53:46.949
the American system, would intrude on states'

00:53:47.070 --> 00:53:50.610
sovereignty, set a precedent for further intrusions

00:53:50.610 --> 00:53:53.449
on states' sovereignty. to infringe on the rights

00:53:53.449 --> 00:53:55.170
of states to manage their own affairs, because

00:53:55.170 --> 00:53:56.429
you'd have the federal government coming in and

00:53:56.429 --> 00:53:59.769
doing things, not necessarily asking them first.

00:54:00.050 --> 00:54:02.210
And there was another issue in the South where

00:54:02.210 --> 00:54:03.690
they felt that some of this would lead to some

00:54:03.690 --> 00:54:06.349
regional inequality. Once Adams and Clay attempted

00:54:06.349 --> 00:54:08.710
to move forward on these proposals, they found

00:54:08.710 --> 00:54:11.150
their way stymied by opposition populist Democrats,

00:54:11.610 --> 00:54:14.690
such as Andrew Jackson and his political fixer,

00:54:14.690 --> 00:54:18.440
Martin Van Buren. Opposition to these internal

00:54:18.440 --> 00:54:21.420
improvements rose parallel with the rising controversy

00:54:21.420 --> 00:54:25.079
over slavery and concerned by slave states with

00:54:25.079 --> 00:54:27.719
any increase in federal authority over the power

00:54:27.719 --> 00:54:31.000
of individual states. While opposition to these

00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:33.179
internal improvements would be based on, like

00:54:33.179 --> 00:54:35.559
we said, a supposedly strict reading of the Constitution,

00:54:36.039 --> 00:54:40.159
it is impossible to consider this position without

00:54:40.159 --> 00:54:44.639
factoring in the defense of slavery as a motivator.

00:54:45.710 --> 00:54:47.809
To the narrowly focused people who made up the

00:54:47.809 --> 00:54:50.250
Democratic coalition around Jackson, Van Buren,

00:54:50.250 --> 00:54:53.429
and even South Carolina's John Calhoun, who managed

00:54:53.429 --> 00:54:55.670
to be vice president under both Adams and Jackson,

00:54:55.889 --> 00:54:58.670
in some measure to betray both of them at some

00:54:58.670 --> 00:55:02.329
point, permitting this level of federal power

00:55:02.329 --> 00:55:04.530
was at risk to states' rights as they understood

00:55:04.530 --> 00:55:08.090
them and the rights of slaveholders. A good distinction

00:55:08.090 --> 00:55:09.989
to understand the differences between these two

00:55:09.989 --> 00:55:12.340
forces, Adams and Clay were focused on the good

00:55:12.340 --> 00:55:15.280
of the nation, Jackson and Van Buren, particularly

00:55:15.280 --> 00:55:17.239
when it came to economic matters, were focused

00:55:17.239 --> 00:55:19.760
on local or state considerations, maintaining

00:55:19.760 --> 00:55:23.019
the power of the states as opposed to enhancing

00:55:23.019 --> 00:55:26.300
the role of the federal government. This dynamic

00:55:26.300 --> 00:55:28.679
persists today, and one can see an emphasis on

00:55:28.679 --> 00:55:31.380
benefiting specific classes of Americans or regions

00:55:31.380 --> 00:55:34.679
at the expense of broader benefits for the majority

00:55:34.679 --> 00:55:38.389
of Americans. Now, let's talk about the opposition

00:55:38.389 --> 00:55:42.309
to this. Yes. Slavery is there. There are some

00:55:42.309 --> 00:55:44.050
other things to talk about in terms of the opposition,

00:55:44.170 --> 00:55:47.849
but over to you, Marshall. All right. So to talk

00:55:47.849 --> 00:55:51.570
about the opposition to this, by the 1820s, the

00:55:51.570 --> 00:55:53.789
slaveholding portion of the United States was

00:55:53.789 --> 00:55:57.369
facing obstacles. The first was a decline in

00:55:57.369 --> 00:56:01.170
political and demographic influence. At the time

00:56:01.170 --> 00:56:04.159
of independence, Virginia, the state that we're

00:56:04.159 --> 00:56:07.159
in now, was the most popular state in the Union,

00:56:07.300 --> 00:56:11.519
and it had a significant share in seats in Congress,

00:56:11.639 --> 00:56:15.260
giving it a lot of influence there. On the executive

00:56:15.260 --> 00:56:18.599
side, you had what was called the Virginia Junto,

00:56:18.659 --> 00:56:21.860
with Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe all being

00:56:21.860 --> 00:56:24.320
from Virginia, all holding the presidency from

00:56:24.320 --> 00:56:29.469
1800 to 1824. The South's influence was further

00:56:29.469 --> 00:56:31.730
bolstered by the Three -Fifths Clause in the

00:56:31.730 --> 00:56:33.789
Constitution in which slaves whose interests

00:56:33.789 --> 00:56:36.409
were never represented in Congress were counted

00:56:36.409 --> 00:56:39.590
in terms of representation. However, the population

00:56:39.590 --> 00:56:43.429
in slave states was and would decline, lessening

00:56:43.429 --> 00:56:46.670
the influence in Congress. The large establishments

00:56:46.670 --> 00:56:48.929
that produced cotton and tobacco throughout the

00:56:48.929 --> 00:56:51.289
South tended to edge out the smaller and medium

00:56:51.289 --> 00:56:54.269
-sized farmer, forcing him to go to the West.

00:56:55.360 --> 00:56:57.440
because land was just no longer available and

00:56:57.440 --> 00:56:59.199
opportunities were no longer available in the

00:56:59.199 --> 00:57:03.239
South. And this was going on with other parts

00:57:03.239 --> 00:57:05.519
of the country, but the demographic decline in

00:57:05.519 --> 00:57:08.320
the South due to slavery led the South to seek

00:57:08.320 --> 00:57:11.739
to conquer or increase new territories to sustain

00:57:11.739 --> 00:57:14.500
its dominance at the national level. Otherwise,

00:57:14.619 --> 00:57:17.179
it risked becoming a minority within the United

00:57:17.179 --> 00:57:21.860
States. Let's talk about some other economic

00:57:21.860 --> 00:57:24.239
aspects. We've kind of talked about tariffs.

00:57:25.320 --> 00:57:29.679
For the people of the South, which is where this

00:57:29.679 --> 00:57:32.539
is a controversial issue, a big controversial

00:57:32.539 --> 00:57:37.079
issue, the constitutionality of the role of tariffs

00:57:37.079 --> 00:57:39.739
in the American system was questioned in the

00:57:39.739 --> 00:57:43.780
South. They argued that it was okay to raise

00:57:43.780 --> 00:57:46.780
tariffs to raise revenue for the federal government,

00:57:46.880 --> 00:57:50.139
but to use them to support industry was unconstitutional

00:57:50.139 --> 00:57:52.780
because this was not expressly permitted in the

00:57:52.780 --> 00:57:56.800
Constitution. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution

00:57:56.800 --> 00:58:01.139
grants Congress the power to levy tariffs. Southerners

00:58:01.139 --> 00:58:03.980
did not question that, but they drew a distinction

00:58:03.980 --> 00:58:07.039
between levying tariffs to generate revenue for

00:58:07.039 --> 00:58:09.559
the federal government, which they viewed as

00:58:09.559 --> 00:58:13.400
legal, and levying them to protect northern industry,

00:58:13.659 --> 00:58:16.599
which they viewed as illegal. I mean, tariffs

00:58:16.599 --> 00:58:19.920
were the main source of revenue in this era before

00:58:19.920 --> 00:58:24.550
there was a federal income tax. So we have a

00:58:24.550 --> 00:58:26.250
chaotic situation. I think we've established

00:58:26.250 --> 00:58:28.610
that. The roads have stumps in them, right? You're

00:58:28.610 --> 00:58:32.170
relying on rivers. The monetary situation is

00:58:32.170 --> 00:58:35.309
a mess. The American system is trying to fix

00:58:35.309 --> 00:58:37.090
this by creating the national bank and improving

00:58:37.090 --> 00:58:40.090
infrastructure. That's the goal here. The opposition

00:58:40.090 --> 00:58:45.329
to it is that it's unconstitutional, that it

00:58:45.329 --> 00:58:47.590
gives the federal government powers, which could

00:58:47.590 --> 00:58:50.150
lead to things that the Southerners didn't want,

00:58:50.230 --> 00:58:53.050
slaveholders didn't want, like banning slavery.

00:58:53.530 --> 00:58:55.469
or at least taxing slavery out of existence was

00:58:55.469 --> 00:58:59.070
another fear they had. Another part of the opposition,

00:58:59.250 --> 00:59:01.329
though, and I think to be fair to them, you have

00:59:01.329 --> 00:59:04.030
to mention this, is that Southerners didn't really

00:59:04.030 --> 00:59:07.570
see what they got out of all of this. From their

00:59:07.570 --> 00:59:10.250
point of view, they grew cotton. They floated

00:59:10.250 --> 00:59:12.250
it down the rivers, the natural waterways, down

00:59:12.250 --> 00:59:15.909
to the ports. They sold it to the British. The

00:59:15.909 --> 00:59:18.869
British then sent them cheap industrial goods

00:59:18.869 --> 00:59:21.829
that they wanted. They didn't see the benefit

00:59:21.829 --> 00:59:24.829
to themselves of, helping out the farmers in

00:59:24.829 --> 00:59:26.690
what we would now call the Midwest, uncalled

00:59:26.690 --> 00:59:30.090
the West, or helping out the merchants and manufacturers

00:59:30.090 --> 00:59:32.690
up in the Northeast. They didn't see the benefit

00:59:32.690 --> 00:59:35.989
to themselves. What they did see was a protective

00:59:35.989 --> 00:59:38.789
tariff to protect the industry up in the North,

00:59:38.929 --> 00:59:42.010
which made the goods they brought in from Britain

00:59:42.010 --> 00:59:44.550
more expensive. But they didn't see what they

00:59:44.550 --> 00:59:46.909
got out of it. Now, I'm not saying they were

00:59:46.909 --> 00:59:48.349
thinking long -term. I'm not trying to defend

00:59:48.349 --> 00:59:50.070
their point of view. But I think you do have

00:59:50.070 --> 00:59:53.659
to admit that. They had some points for viewing

00:59:53.659 --> 00:59:56.539
this as economically disadvantageous to them,

00:59:56.599 --> 00:59:59.099
or at least, well, disadvantageous, actually.

00:59:59.159 --> 01:00:00.719
They got nothing out of it, and they actually

01:00:00.719 --> 01:00:02.699
had to pay higher tariffs. So the goods that

01:00:02.699 --> 01:00:04.800
they did bring in cost them more now. They didn't

01:00:04.800 --> 01:00:06.579
see themselves getting much else out of it. They

01:00:06.579 --> 01:00:08.980
liked the business model that they were using,

01:00:09.039 --> 01:00:11.610
and they did not wish to change it. Now, they

01:00:11.610 --> 01:00:13.690
would say this, but again, and we've said this

01:00:13.690 --> 01:00:15.530
before, underlying all of this, though, was also

01:00:15.530 --> 01:00:17.050
their fear of the federal government gaining

01:00:17.050 --> 01:00:19.250
enough power to do away with slavery. And they

01:00:19.250 --> 01:00:21.849
openly said this. That was there, okay? It's

01:00:21.849 --> 01:00:23.170
not a matter of opinion. And it was free labor

01:00:23.170 --> 01:00:28.150
for them that they owned. Yes. And I think it's

01:00:28.150 --> 01:00:31.210
offensive to talk this way in modern times, but

01:00:31.210 --> 01:00:33.170
I do think that you have to understand that to

01:00:33.170 --> 01:00:36.869
a slave owner in early America, part of liberty

01:00:36.869 --> 01:00:40.429
was freedom to own property. And those slaves,

01:00:40.530 --> 01:00:42.769
those human beings you held in bondage, were

01:00:42.769 --> 01:00:45.849
your property. And to take them away from you

01:00:45.849 --> 01:00:48.630
was a tyrannical confiscation of your property.

01:00:48.929 --> 01:00:51.469
So the way they viewed it was that they were

01:00:51.469 --> 01:00:53.969
standing up for their own weird sense of freedom.

01:00:54.150 --> 01:00:55.909
Freedom for me, anyway, not for the people I'm

01:00:55.909 --> 01:00:57.849
holding in bondage. But that was an important

01:00:57.849 --> 01:01:00.329
part of liberty to them as far as they were concerned.

01:01:00.849 --> 01:01:02.630
Getting into the whole slavery thing is a whole

01:01:02.630 --> 01:01:04.909
different issue. But they held these beliefs.

01:01:05.500 --> 01:01:08.559
That's what motivated them at the time. And that's

01:01:08.559 --> 01:01:12.019
part of what the opposition was to this. Yes.

01:01:12.199 --> 01:01:13.940
A significant part of what the opposition was,

01:01:14.000 --> 01:01:16.039
actually. A very important component of it was

01:01:16.039 --> 01:01:19.280
the issue of slavery. This was kind of a battle

01:01:19.280 --> 01:01:21.880
that was fought throughout Adams' first and only

01:01:21.880 --> 01:01:26.980
term. What Adams sought in 1828 was a second

01:01:26.980 --> 01:01:31.539
term to try and realize his goals here. You would

01:01:31.539 --> 01:01:34.760
think that this election would be thought on

01:01:34.760 --> 01:01:38.059
an issue of internal improvements versus states'

01:01:38.179 --> 01:01:42.980
rights. It was not, because the political culture

01:01:42.980 --> 01:01:44.940
of the United States tended to be more about

01:01:44.940 --> 01:01:48.780
personalities than it was about issues. Sounds

01:01:48.780 --> 01:01:52.820
familiar. Sounds familiar. And really, outright

01:01:52.820 --> 01:01:56.929
lies also sounds familiar. What the issues were

01:01:56.929 --> 01:01:59.969
in the election of 1828 was whether or not Jackson's

01:01:59.969 --> 01:02:02.989
wife and mother were prostitutes, whether or

01:02:02.989 --> 01:02:06.989
not Jackson's anger management issues led to

01:02:06.989 --> 01:02:09.869
him to commit murder or multiple murders throughout

01:02:09.869 --> 01:02:13.329
his military career. He did tend to shoot first

01:02:13.329 --> 01:02:16.650
and ask questions later. While no one is accusing

01:02:16.650 --> 01:02:19.010
Abigail Adams of being a prostitute, or for that

01:02:19.010 --> 01:02:21.489
matter, Louisa Catherine Adams, who is John Quincy

01:02:21.489 --> 01:02:25.559
Adams' wife, John Quincy Adams was alleged to

01:02:25.559 --> 01:02:28.300
have procured an American girl for Alexander

01:02:28.300 --> 01:02:31.679
I's exclusive use. The troop is actually the

01:02:31.679 --> 01:02:35.900
opposite. There was a niece of Louisa Catherine's

01:02:35.900 --> 01:02:39.420
who Alexander I fancied, and they were worried

01:02:39.420 --> 01:02:44.659
that he might get her off on her own and make

01:02:44.659 --> 01:02:46.719
use of her. This is the Tsar of Russia. The Tsar

01:02:46.719 --> 01:02:50.300
of Russia, yes, when he was ambassador to Russia

01:02:50.300 --> 01:02:53.380
there. The corrupt bargain, which was basically

01:02:53.380 --> 01:02:56.539
the bargain between Clay and Adams, was similarly

01:02:56.539 --> 01:02:59.780
and constantly evoked to cast doubt on the character

01:02:59.780 --> 01:03:02.119
of John Quincy Adams. And the corrupt bargain

01:03:02.119 --> 01:03:05.099
was? That he had made a deal with Henry Clay

01:03:05.099 --> 01:03:07.739
to go through the House of Representatives to

01:03:07.739 --> 01:03:10.199
see that he was elected president. And that Clay

01:03:10.199 --> 01:03:12.199
was given the position of Secretary of State,

01:03:12.360 --> 01:03:14.579
thereby designating him as Adams' successor.

01:03:14.920 --> 01:03:19.079
In 1824. In 1824. Yeah, yeah. So Adams lost the

01:03:19.079 --> 01:03:21.579
election, and this undermined the promotion of

01:03:21.579 --> 01:03:24.139
the American system and its programs for the

01:03:24.139 --> 01:03:28.420
next 30 years. As I said, the only reform that

01:03:28.420 --> 01:03:30.619
was advocated by Adams that would be enacted

01:03:30.619 --> 01:03:33.119
was the establishment of the Naval Academy in

01:03:33.119 --> 01:03:37.880
1845. Clay would try to advance... this program

01:03:37.880 --> 01:03:40.780
through the newly created Whig Party, which was

01:03:40.780 --> 01:03:43.900
set up more or less to be exclusively in opposition

01:03:43.900 --> 01:03:49.420
to Jackson and a strong executive. But Clay really

01:03:49.420 --> 01:03:54.099
lacked the organizing skills of a political operator

01:03:54.099 --> 01:03:57.579
like his opponent, Martin Van Buren, and was

01:03:57.579 --> 01:04:00.559
constantly unable to realize his goals for the

01:04:00.559 --> 01:04:02.739
nation or his personal goals to be elected president.

01:04:03.219 --> 01:04:07.219
The spirit behind the reforms that Lincoln initiated

01:04:07.219 --> 01:04:11.980
would be strongly rooted in Clay's American system

01:04:11.980 --> 01:04:15.360
and Adams' proposal for internal improvements.

01:04:15.719 --> 01:04:19.659
And when they actually did succeed, they succeeded

01:04:19.659 --> 01:04:23.239
beyond anyone's wildest expectations in the 1820s.

01:04:24.789 --> 01:04:26.650
Unquestionably, these measures served to enhance

01:04:26.650 --> 01:04:29.070
U .S. economic growth in the 19th century and

01:04:29.070 --> 01:04:31.969
created perhaps too late for Clay, Adams, and

01:04:31.969 --> 01:04:34.789
even Lincoln to witness the results. By the 20th

01:04:34.789 --> 01:04:37.170
century, thanks in part to these reforms, the

01:04:37.170 --> 01:04:40.050
U .S. emerged as the preeminent economic power

01:04:40.050 --> 01:04:42.909
of the world. Many of these measures are things

01:04:42.909 --> 01:04:45.449
that we take for granted. A standard federal...

01:04:45.760 --> 01:04:48.380
by state currency, railroads and other infrastructure

01:04:48.380 --> 01:04:51.360
programs, land grant and state universities,

01:04:51.840 --> 01:04:55.599
even a national program to explore space. It

01:04:55.599 --> 01:04:57.960
would take more than 30 years and a civil war

01:04:57.960 --> 01:05:00.820
to enact activist programs the activist programs

01:05:00.820 --> 01:05:03.300
that Clay and Adams advocated, and for Abraham

01:05:03.300 --> 01:05:06.800
Lincoln, who was Clay's number one fan, to see

01:05:06.800 --> 01:05:09.059
these measures like these encompassed by a reform

01:05:09.059 --> 01:05:11.960
program. As we will see, the specific details

01:05:11.960 --> 01:05:15.099
change due to varying circumstances and technological

01:05:15.099 --> 01:05:20.250
advances. So in conclusion, what we've seen in

01:05:20.250 --> 01:05:23.289
this episode is kind of the failure of the desires,

01:05:23.550 --> 01:05:25.690
the program of the internal improvement, the

01:05:25.690 --> 01:05:28.550
American system to come about. What we're going

01:05:28.550 --> 01:05:31.210
to see in our next program is what comes in and

01:05:31.210 --> 01:05:34.250
takes its place in the impact that it has on

01:05:34.250 --> 01:05:38.849
national unity and also on the economy as a whole

01:05:38.849 --> 01:05:41.929
leading up to the Civil War. So join us next

01:05:41.929 --> 01:05:47.400
time for that. That's it for this episode of

01:05:47.400 --> 01:05:50.340
the United States of Amnesia. Thank you for listening.

01:05:50.619 --> 01:05:52.980
We hope you learned something and we hope you

01:05:52.980 --> 01:05:55.139
discovered new ways of looking at things you

01:05:55.139 --> 01:05:58.000
had already heard or thought about or perhaps

01:05:58.000 --> 01:06:00.739
hadn't heard about. If you enjoyed it, that's

01:06:00.739 --> 01:06:04.179
great. If we made you mad, that's okay too. Either

01:06:04.179 --> 01:06:09.119
way, email us at usa .amnesia at gmail .com and

01:06:09.119 --> 01:06:11.619
let us know what you think. Also, let us know

01:06:11.619 --> 01:06:13.699
about anything you think we missed or got wrong.

01:06:14.039 --> 01:06:16.860
we'd like to know about that too. And of course,

01:06:16.860 --> 01:06:19.380
please like and subscribe and let your friends

01:06:19.380 --> 01:06:22.360
and neighbors know about us. We also have a website.

01:06:22.460 --> 01:06:29.440
It's www .usofamnesia .com. For Marshall, Mike,

01:06:29.599 --> 01:07:02.889
and myself, Blake Hinckley. Till next time. I

01:07:02.889 --> 01:07:04.750
mean, one thing you didn't bring up was how sketchy

01:07:04.750 --> 01:07:07.329
the bank money was. The bank issued certificates

01:07:07.329 --> 01:07:09.269
weren't a national currency. They just banks.

01:07:09.889 --> 01:07:11.909
They weren't backed up by gold and silver, which

01:07:11.909 --> 01:07:13.670
at the time was important to people backing up

01:07:13.670 --> 01:07:16.150
with gold and silver. So, I mean, Jackson wasn't

01:07:16.150 --> 01:07:19.710
wrong because it was. I mean, the panics that

01:07:19.710 --> 01:07:21.389
happened sometimes, you know, one of the panic,

01:07:21.409 --> 01:07:23.829
the panic of 1837 had to do with insufficient

01:07:23.829 --> 01:07:27.030
backing of money. Now, Jackson's answer was to

01:07:27.030 --> 01:07:30.269
make everything be paid in specie, as they called

01:07:30.269 --> 01:07:32.559
it. Now, that backfired, too, because it turns

01:07:32.559 --> 01:07:33.840
out there wasn't enough specie. But, I mean,

01:07:33.860 --> 01:07:36.559
you had inflation going on. Gold and silver.

01:07:36.780 --> 01:07:38.840
I know what that is. You had all sorts of things

01:07:38.840 --> 01:07:40.420
going on, like inflation that he was trying to.

01:07:40.440 --> 01:07:42.420
I mean, it's not like he's just an idiot. We

01:07:42.420 --> 01:07:45.219
were talking in the car on the way here. What

01:07:45.219 --> 01:07:47.780
did people use for money? Were these just notes

01:07:47.780 --> 01:07:53.039
from a bank that said, I owe you $10? I have

01:07:53.039 --> 01:07:55.420
gold and silver in my bank. If you didn't have

01:07:55.420 --> 01:07:59.619
specie. Yes, but they had specie. Everybody?

01:07:59.900 --> 01:08:04.019
Every single citizen? No. Gold coins? The banks

01:08:04.019 --> 01:08:06.360
did. The banks did. So what did they give out

01:08:06.360 --> 01:08:08.539
to people in lieu of? Bank certificates. Like

01:08:08.539 --> 01:08:10.840
a check. It's like a check. Was it called a bank

01:08:10.840 --> 01:08:12.579
certificate or something with a term for it?

01:08:12.599 --> 01:08:15.460
Or a bank note? Yeah, bank note. Yeah, that's

01:08:15.460 --> 01:08:16.140
what a bank note is.