The American System refers to a series of economic programs designed to improve the economy of the United States. It was heavily supported by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, as well as many other Democratic-Republican American politicians in the first half of the nineteenth century.  Later the plan would be supported by the Whig Party and opposed by the Republican Party of Andrew Jackson. The plan called for the maintenance of a Federal Bank to provide sound currency and centralized control of banking. It also called for high tariffs to be introduced on foreign goods, which helped ensure the prosperity of American producers. Clay argued passionately for the maintenance of high public land prices to ensure the government continued to make enough money to support massive spending. Finally, the American System called for intensive focus on the development of internal infrastructure to foster a growing national economy. One thing the plan did not focus on was reducing money allocated to the Armed Forces; at the original conception of the plan in 1815 the Armed Forces were expanded. 

William Jennings Bryan spoke those words at the Democratic National Convention in 1896. The speech is generally referred to as the “Cross of Gold” speech due to Bryan’s conclusion that “mankind shall not be crucified on a Cross of Gold!” The speech supported the use of “free silver,” which Bryan and his supporters believed would help remedy the economic stagnation in the United States that had existed since the Panic of 1893, and which heavily affected the rural poor and even wealthy farmers. Bryan gained the Democratic nomination for the 1896 election, but ultimately lost to the Republican candidate William McKinley.

The above quote reflects the philanthropic principles of nineteenth-century industrialist Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie moved from Scotland to America and almost literally started from nothing. By the time he was an old man, Carnegie owned the largest Steel company in the United States, as well as a number of other businesses. Carnegie never forgot where he came from, and he believed that it was the duty of all wealthy men to invest their riches in the betterment of society. Carnegie was particularly interested in funding the arts and educational facilities. His views are most succinctly expressed in his book The Gospel of Wealth.

Henry Clay, who served in some capacity in the Federal government from 1811 to 1852, first proposed the "American System" when he was Speaker of the House in 1816. With a stated goal of promoting and developing American industry, business, and agriculture, the plan called for a higher tariff to protect American industry, a national bank to regulate commerce, and a series of internal improvements such as roads, bridges, and canals to encourage trade. The "American System" became the bulwark domestic policy platform of the Whig Party during the Second Party System.

The process of horizontal integration refers to the joining together of similar companies in order to eliminate competition, drive up prices, and create an effective monopoly. It differs from vertical integration in the following way: vertical integration is the process of gaining control of every facet of the business of a product. It involves controlling the means of manufacturing and the process of distribution. 

Alexander Hamilton is the politician who is most associated with the construction of the Federal Bank of the United States. Hamilton had spent much of his early political career studying the banking institutions of Britain and felt that a national bank was necessary to the economic development of the United States. He was opposed by a large proportion of the representatives and it was only due to Hamilton gaining the support of President Washington that the bank was created. 

The first steamboat was invented by the American engineer and inventor Robert Fulton. Fulton lived and worked in France, England and the United States and is also credited with inventing some of the earliest submersibles and torpedoes. The invention of the steamboat was crucial for the development of the United States economy in the middle of the nineteenth century. It dramatically reduced the time and costs involved in shipping goods, and it created new communities of wealth along the majority of America’s big rivers. The steamboat was particularly useful in the development of cities along the Mississippi River, like Natchez and Vicksburg, as well as opening up new areas of the South to trade and settlement. 

The mechanical reaper was first invented by Cyrus McCormick’s father in the late 1820s; however, Cyrus is generally credited by historians as having perfected the device. The invention of the mechanical reaper dramatically changed the nature of society in the United States. It allowed a far greater number of crops to be harvested by a much smaller number of individuals. This led to a surplus of food and, equally importantly, freed up a much larger percentage of the population to work in other industries. 

Slavery was the defining feature of life in the antebellum South. The first slaves arrived in the early-seventeenth century, and by the end of the eighteenth-century large plantations dominated the southern economy, principally growing non-food crops like cotton. Until Reconstruction, and even beyond, the South remained dominated by agriculture, and was extremely slow to become industrialized.

The Panic of 1857 is considered by many historians to be the first world-wide economic crisis in human history, due to the interconnectedness of the global economy. The Panic began in Britain after the British government failed to back currency with gold and silver reserves. This caused a massive decline in the international economy at exactly the wrong time for the United States. American businesses had taken great risks and over-expanded during the prosperous years prior to the Panic and were unable to cope with the decline of the international market. The influx of Gold from California exacerbated matters as the rapid growth in gold supply led to immediate inflation. The economy would not recover until after the Civil War.