“The creation of the home market is not only necessary to pr…
“The creation of the home market is not only necessary to procure for our agriculture a just reward of its labors, but it is indispensible to obtain a supply of our necessary wants…. Suppose no actual abandonment of farming, but, what is most likely, a gradual and imperceptible employment of population in the business of manufacturing, instead of being compelled to resort to agriculture …. Is any part of our common country likely to be injured by a transfer of the theater of for our own consumption from Europe to America? “…. Suppose it were even true that Great Britain had abolished all restrictions upon trade, and allowed the freest introduction of the of foreign labor, would that prove it unwise for us to adopt the protecting system? The object of protection is the establishment and perfection of the arts. In England it, has accomplished its purpose, fulfilled its end…. The adoption of the restrictive system, on the part of the United States, by excluding the of foreign labor would extend the of American , unable, in the infancy and unprotected state of the arts, to sustain a competition with foreign fabrics. Let our arts breathe under the shade of protection; let them be perfected as they are in England, and we shall be ready … to put aside protection, and enter upon the freest exchanges.” — Henry Clay, Speaker of the House of Representatives, speech in Congress, 1824 Which of the following was an interpretation of the speech by opponents of the goals Clay expressed in the excerpt?