Question: Which is true of the political positions of younger Republicans, such as Henry Clay, in the years immediately following the War of 1812? They embraced the idea that the nation's economic independence required a manufacturing sector. They maintained the Jeffersonian belief that the future of the United States depended exclusively on agriculture. They believed that only the states had the constitutional right to enact policies to encourage economic development. They hoped to secure exclusive trading rights with Britain through trade agreements. They rejected James Madison's American System as being unconstitutional. Need Assignment Help?