Tom DiLorenzo on how the American System differed from true capitalism

The American System... was the framework for a giant political patronage system.  Politicians who could control such a system could use it to maintain and enhance their own power and wealth almost indefinitely, as the Republican Party eventually did.  It was not an example of "capitalism," as James McPherson incorrectly stated in Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution, but quite the opposite: It was mercantilism, the very system that Adam Smith railed against in his epic defense of capitalism, The Wealth of Nations.

~ Tom DiLorenzo, The Real Lincoln, pp. 59-60

Abraham Lincoln on his political agenda

I presume you all know who I am.  I am humble Abraham Lincoln.  I have been solicited by many friends to become a candidate for the legislature.  My politics are short and sweet, like the old woman's dance.  I am in favor of a national bank... in favor of the internal improvements system and a high protective tariff.

~ Abraham Lincoln, upon first running for public office, 1832

(as quoted by Tom DiLorenzo in The Real Lincoln, p. 54)

Tom DiLorenzo on Henry Clay: "corrupt statist"

[Henry] Clay was a corrupt statist who spent his political career promoting mercantilism, protectionism, inflationary finance through central banking, and military adventurism in the quest for empire. Upon entering Congress in 1811 he helped persuade the government to attempt to conquer Canada, which it tried to do three times. He waged a thirty-year battle with James Madison, John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson, and other defenders of the Constitution over federally funded corporate welfare.

~ Tom DiLorenzo, "Henry Clay: National Socialist," The Free Market, March 1998

Henry Clay
1902-1903