One of Power Bases of Henry Clay's "American System" : The Economic Structure of the Bluegrass Region in Kentucky

Abstract

It is generally thought that Henry CLAY was a representative of peasant proprietors in the West and his "American System" was closely related to the interest of grain export to the East or the South, only because he lived in Kentucky. However, his power base was not the whole of Kentucky but the Bluegrass region, the plantation area of hemp which was called "Nigger Crop". So the purpose of this paper is to clarify the economic structure and the meaning of "American System" in this region. Until 1820, Lexington, the center of Bluegrass, where all kinds of industries flourished, was the metropolis west of the Alleghenies. And protective tariffs for these infant industries were claimed by CLAY and manufacturers in that city. But after the decline of Lexington caused by the introduction of steamboats into the Mississippi and the Panic of 1819, the hemp industry became an outstanding one. Though the hemp processors and planters also mede a claim for protective tariffs on processed goods such as cotton bagging or rope of high price and low quality compared with Scottish ones, the only market for these goods, as well as for surplus slaves, was the lower South where free trade was insisted upon. Accordingly the economy of the Bluegrass region in this period was supported by the lower South. So the processors and planters in this area were always afraid of a secession of the lower South in spite of their claim for protective tariffs. Henry CLAY's concessive attitude after the decline of Lexington resulted from this economic situation.