Henry Clay

• Born: 12 April 1777
• Birthplace: Hanover County, Virginia
• Died: 29 June 1852
• Best Known As: The "Great Compromiser" of 19th century U.S. politics

Henry Clay was a towering figure in American politics in the middle part of the 19th century, a presidential aspirant whose political skills earned him the nickname "The Great Compromiser." He grew up in Virginia in the Revolutionary War period, and in his early 20s he made his name as a trial lawyer in the frontier of Kentucky. A businessman, landowner, farmer, horse breeder and politician, Clay spent his early career in the House of Representatives -- building power as Speaker of the House -- and was appointed twice to fill out terms in the U.S. senate (1806-07 and 1810-11). He lost the hotly contested 1824 race for the presidency, but threw his support behind John Quincy Adams to spite political enemy Andrew Jackson. Clay was a leader in the Whig party, but was thwarted in his presidential ambitions in the 1830s and '40s. Nonetheless, he was one of more able and powerful legislators in Washington, known especially for his oratorical skills. He is best remembered for his role in the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the 1850 Compromise Act, temporary fixes to the slavery issue settled later by the Civil War.

One of Clay's most famous quotes is "I'd rather be right than president."

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Henry Clay, by Frederick and William Langenheim, 1850. (credit: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)

(born April 12, 1777, Hanover county, Va., U.S. — died June 29, 1852, Washington, D.C.) U.S. politician. He practiced law from 1797 in Virginia and then in Kentucky, where he served in the state legislature (1803 – 09). He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (1811 – 14, 1815 – 21, 1823 – 25); as House speaker (1811 – 14), he was among those who propelled the U.S. into the War of 1812. He supported a national economic policy of protective tariffs, known as the American System, a national bank, and improvements to internal transportation. His support of the Missouri Compromise earned him the nicknames "The Great Pacificator" and "The Great Compromiser." After his bid for the presidency in 1824 fell short, Clay threw his support to John Quincy Adams, who made him his secretary of state (1825 – 29). He served in the U.S. Senate (1806 – 07, 1810 – 11, and 1831 – 42), where he supported the compromise tariff of 1833. He was the National Republican Party candidate for president in 1832 and the Whig Party candidate in 1844. In his last Senate term (1849 – 52) he argued strongly for passage of the Compromise of 1850.

For more information on Henry Clay, visit Britannica.com.

Clay, Henry (1777-1852) Speaker of the House of Representatives (1811-14, 1815-21, 1823-25), secretary of state (1825-29), U.S. senator (1806-07, 1810-11, 1831-42, 1849-1852), and Whig candidate for president (1832, 1844), born in Hanover County, Virginia. Clay was known as the “Great Pacificator” and the “Great Compromiser” for his role in resolving the Missouri Compromise and Compromise of 1850 crises. Clay signed the treaty ending the War of 1812.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

The American political leader and secretary of state Henry Clay (1777-1852) came to national prominence as leader of the "War Hawks," who drove the country into the War of 1812. For the next 40 years he worked for international peace and sought to reconcile warring factions in the nation.

Henry Clay was born on April 12, 1777, in Hanover County, Va., the seventh of nine children of the Reverend John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson Clay. Henry's father died in 1781, the year British and loyalist soldiers raided the area and looted the Clay home. Ten years later his mother remarried and his stepfather moved the family to Richmond, where Henry worked as a clerk in a store and then, from 1793 to 1797, as secretary to George Wythe, chancellor of the High Court of Chancery. Henry had little regular education, but he read in Wythe's library and learned to make the most of scanty information. He moved to Lexington, Ky., in November 1797 and made a reputation as a lawyer. In 1799 he married Lucretia Hart, of a leading family in the community. They had 11 children.

Clay's life-style was that of the frontier South and West; he drank and gambled through the night for high stakes. John Quincy Adams commented, "In politics, as in private life, Clay is essentially a gamester." He fought two duels, one in 1809 and the other in 1826. This did not hinder a public career in young America, and Clay had attributes which served him well in politics. He was tall and slim with an air of nonchalance, and he had a sensitive, expressive face, a warm spirit, much personal charm, and an excellent speaker's voice. Adams, who had observed him closely, said Clay was "half-educated" but added that the world had been his school and that he had "all the virtues indispensable to a popular man."

Early Political Career

In 1803 Clay was elected to the Kentucky Legislature. In 1806 and again in 1810 he was sent to the U.S. Senate to fill out short terms. In 1811 he was elected to the House of Representatives. He was immediately chosen Speaker and was elected six times to that office, making it a position of party leadership.

By 1811 Clay was fanning the war spirit and the aggressive expansionism of the young republic. He said that the "militia of Kentucky are alone competent" to conquer Montreal and Upper Canada, and he organized the war faction in the House of Representatives. Clay was one of five men selected to meet British representatives at Ghent in 1814; there the failure of American arms forced them to a treaty in which no single objective of the war was obtained.

In the House again from 1815 to 1825 (except for the term of 1821-1823, when he declined to be a candidate), Clay developed his "American System," a program designed to unite the propertied, commercial, and manufacturing interests of the East with the agricultural and entrepreneurial interests in the West. It would establish protection for American industries against foreign competition, Federal financing of such internal improvements as highways and canals, and the rechartering of the United States Bank to provide centralized financial control. Clay succeeded for a time in part of his program: the Bank was rechartered and protective tariffs were enacted, reaching a climax in 1828 with the "Tariff of Abominations." But the internal improvements were not carried out in his lifetime (it required the Civil War to nationalize the country sufficiently for such measures), and long before Clay's death the Bank and the protective tariff had fallen at the hands of the Democrats.

Slavery and Politics

Missouri's application for statehood in 1819 raised the issue of slavery and shocked the nation "like a firebell in the night," as the aged Thomas Jefferson said. Clay had advocated gradual emancipation in Kentucky in 1798, asserting that slavery was known to be an enormous evil. Though he came to terms with the institution in practice - owning, buying, and selling slaves - he was never reconciled to it in principle. When he died he owned some 50 slaves. His will distributed them among his family but provided that all children born of these slaves after Jan. 1, 1850, should (at age 25 for females and 28 for males) be liberated and transported to Liberia. In 1816, Clay was one of the founders of the American Colonization Society, which promoted sending freed slaves to Africa. The racism which he shared with most Americans was an important motivation in the society. (His racism was not restricted to African Americans; he said Native Americans were "not an improvable breed," and that they were not "as a race worth preserving.")

In the Missouri debate he did not devise the basic compromise - that is, that Missouri be a slave state but that slavery henceforth be prohibited in territory north of 36°30'. But he resolved the second crisis caused by the Missouri constitutional provision that free Negroes could not enter the state; Clay got assurance from the Missouri Legislature that it would pass no law abridging the privileges and immunities of United States citizens. The role which Clay played in the debate was, in fact, as spokesman for the interests of the slave South. In the controversy over the activities of the abolitionists in the 1830s he defended the right of petition but secured the passage of resolutions in the Senate censuring the abolitionists and asserting that Congress had no power to interfere with the interstate slave trade.

Secretary of State

Clay was a candidate for the presidency in 1824, but three others received more votes, so that his name did not go to the House for election. He defied Kentucky's instruction to cast the state's votes for Jackson, saying he could not support a "military chieftain"; instead, his support elected John Quincy Adams. When Clay subsequently became secretary of state, the traditional steppingstone to the presidency, the cry of "corrupt bargain" was raised. The charge was unwarranted - he had merely supported the man whose views were closest to his own - but the charge lingered for the rest of his life.

Foreign affairs were not particularly important from 1825 to 1829, and most of Clay's diplomatic efforts did not succeed. The United States failed in efforts to purchase Texas from Mexico, nor was progress made toward acquiring Cuba. The State Department was unsuccessful in settling the Maine-Canadian boundary dispute, in securing trade with the British West Indies, and in getting payment from France for losses suffered by Americans during the Napoleonic Wars. Clay had taken a strong position in support of recent Latin American independence movements against Spain, and he tried unsuccessfully to promote active American participation in the Congress of Panama in 1826.

The Adams administration was defeated overwhelmingly in 1828; Clay's own state voted for Andrew Jackson. Adams offered to appoint Clay to the Supreme Court, but he declined and returned to Kentucky. In 1831 he was elected to the Senate and remained in that office until 1842. During these years of Jacksonian democracy Clay fought a losing battle for his American System. In 1833 he devised the compromise on the tariff which brought the nullification threat from John C. Calhoun's South Carolina; his measure provided that duties be lowered gradually until none were higher than 20 percent by 1842. He favored higher duties but said he made the concession to get past the crisis and on to saner times.

Clay correctly estimated that Martin Van Buren was unbeatable in 1837, but he expected the Whig nomination in 1840 and was bitterly disappointed when the aging military hero William Henry Harrison won nomination and election. Clay then anticipated that he would be the actual leader of the administration, but Harrison resisted him for the short time that he lived and Harrison's successor, John Tyler, proved to be opposed in principle to Clay's Whig program. Clay resigned from the Senate in disgust.

Clay was the Whig presidential candidate in 1844, but his equivocation on the expansionist issue of the annexation of Texas cost him the election. He made an abortive effort for the 1848 nomination, which went to the Mexican War general Zachary Taylor. Clay had condemned the initiation of the war but supported it once it got under way.

Compromise of 1850

The fruits of that war brought on another sectional crisis, with threats to dissolve the Union. Clay returned to the Senate in poor health and led in working out the Compromise of 1850. This series of measures admitted California as a free state, organized the new territories without reference to slavery, assumed the public debt of Texas while restricting its area, abolished the slave trade in the District of Columbia, and enacted a fugitive slave law which denied due process and equal protection of the laws to African Americans living in the North. Thus was the rupture of the Union delayed for a decade. Clay died in Washington on June 29, 1852.

Further Reading

The definitive edition of Clay's writings is James B. Hopkins, ed., The Papers of Henry Clay (3 vols., 1959-1963). The best biography of Clay, comprehensive and temperate in interpretation, is Glyndon G. Van Deusen, The Life of Henry Clay (1937). An excellent brief study is Clement Eaton, Henry Clay and the Art of American Politics (1957), which has a useful bibliographical essay. A fine study of Clay's early life is Bernard Mayo, Henry Clay: Spokesman of the New West (1937). The best 19th-century biography, and still very valuable, is Carl Schurz, Life of Henry Clay (2 vols., 1887-1889).

Additional Sources

Clay, Henry, The life and speeches of Henry Clay, Littleton, Colo.: F.B. Rothman, 1987.

Colton, Calvin, The life and times of Henry Clay, New York, Garland Pub., 1974.

Remini, Robert Vincent, Henry Clay: statesman for the Union, New York: W.W. Norton, 1991.

Schurz, Carl, Henry Clay, New York: Chelsea House, 1980.

Van Deusen, Glyndon G. (Glyndon Garlock), The life of Henry Clay, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1937, 1979.

• Born: Apr. 12, 1777, Hanover County, Va.
• Political party: Democratic-Republican, Whig
• Education: studied law in Richmond, Virginia
• Senator from Kentucky: 1810–11, 1831–42, 1849–52
• Representative from Kentucky: 1811–14, 1815–21, 1823–25
• Speaker of the House: 1811–14, 1815–20, 1823–25
• Died: June 29, 1852, Washington, D.C.

Known as the “Great Compromiser,” Henry Clay dominated the House and Senate for more than four decades yet lost the election every time he ran for President. After a brief term in the Senate, he went to the House, where he was elected Speaker on his first day. Clay put forward an ambitious program of federally funded roads, canals, and other internal improvements, a national bank, and a protective tariff. His American System program took him into battle with President Andrew Jackson and the Democrats and led to the formation of the Whig party.

Clay also worked for years in Congress to achieve compromises between the North and South to reduce sectional tensions over slavery. From the Missouri Compromise to the Compromise of 1850, Clay played a major role. Although a pragmatic politician, he could also show passion and let his temper get the best of him. Members of Congress either adored or hated him. “I don't like Clay,” said John C. Calhoun. “He is a bad man, an imposter, a creature of wicked schemes. I won't speak to him, but, by God, I love him!” Voters showed similarly mixed feelings.

See also Compromise; Compromise of 1850; Missouri Compromise (1821)

Sources

• Robert Remini, Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (New York: Norton, 1991)

(1777-1852), statesman. Leader of the Whig party and five times an unsuccessful presidential candidate, Clay played a central role on the stage of national politics for over forty years. He was secretary of state under John Quincy Adams, Speaker of the House of Representatives longer than anyone else in the nineteenth century, and the most influential member of the Senate during its golden age. In a parliamentary system, he would have undoubtedly become prime minister.

Clay's personal magnetism made him one of America's best-loved politicians; his elaborate scheming made him one of the most cordially hated. Through it all he displayed remarkable consistency of purpose: he was a nationalist, devoted to the economic development and political integration of the United States.

As Speaker of the House in 1812, Clay was one of the "War Hawks," men who believed that war with Great Britain was necessary to preserve the overseas markets of American staple producers. But Clay also served as a negotiator at the Ghent peace conference, and for the rest of his life pursued conciliation at home and abroad. Although a slaveholder, Clay disapproved of slavery as a system; he advocated gradual emancipation and the resettlement of the freed people in Africa. He defended, unsuccessfully, the right of the so-called Five Civilized Tribes of Indians to their lands. He warned that annexation of Texas would provoke war with Mexico and exacerbate tensions between North and South, and he opposed the war when it came. He consistently fostered good relations with Latin America.

The centerpiece of Clay's statecraft was an integrated economic program called "the American System." This envisioned a protective tariff, a national bank jointly owned by private stockholders and the federal government, and federal subsidies for transportation projects ("internal improvements"). Public lands in the West were to be sold rather than given away to homesteaders so the proceeds could be used for education and internal improvements. The program was intended to promote economic development and diversification, reduce dependence on imports, and tie together the different sections of the country.

The American System became the chief plank in the platform of Clay's Whig party, which was formed in opposition to the Democratic party of Andrew Jackson, creating "the second party system." Whigs were found in all parts of the country, but especially among the prosperous classes, in areas wanting government economic aid, and among Protestant religious bodies that hoped a strong government would further their agenda of moral reform.

Clay was called "the Great Compromiser" because he played a major role in formulating the three landmark sectional compromises of his day: the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Tariff Compromise of 1833, and the Compromise of 1850. Coming from the border state of Kentucky, he was predisposed toward moderation when sectional conflicts were involved. His main objective was to avoid a civil war. But in this, as in so many of his more immediate goals, he was defeated.

Clay never became president, and his Whig party disappeared shortly after his death. But its successor, the Republican party, put many features of the American System into operation. In the long run, his economic and political vision of America was largely fulfilled.

Bibliography:

Clement Eaton, Henry Clay and the Art of American Politics (1957); Glyndon G. Van Deusen, The Life of Henry Clay (1937).

Author:

Daniel Walker Howe

See also American System; Compromise of 1850; House of Representatives; Missouri Compromise; Nullification Controversy; Senate; Tariff; Texas Revolution and Annexation; War Hawks; War of 1812; Whig Party.

Early Career

His father died when he was four years old, and Clay's formal schooling was limited to three years. His stepfather secured (1792) for him a clerk's position in the Virginia high court of chancery. There he gained the regard of George Wythe, who directed his reading. Clay also read law under Robert Brooke, attorney general of Virginia, and in 1797 he was licensed to practice.

Moving in the same year to Lexington, Ky., he quickly gained wide reputation as a lawyer and orator. He served (1803-6) in the Kentucky legislature and was (1805-7) professor of law at Transylvania Univ. Having spent the short session of 1806-7 in the U.S. Senate, he returned (1807) to the state legislature, became (1808) speaker, and remained there until he was chosen to fill an unexpired term (1810-11) in the U.S. Senate.

Congressman

In 1810 Clay was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served (1811-14) as speaker. As spokesman of Western expansionist interests and leader of the "war hawks," Clay stirred up enthusiasm for war with Great Britain and helped bring on the War of 1812. He resigned (1814) from Congress to aid in the peace negotiations leading to the Treaty of Ghent.

He again served (1815-21) in the House, again was speaker (1815-20), and began to formulate his "American system," a national program that ultimately included federal aid for internal improvements and tariff protection of American industries. In 1821, Clay, to pacify sectional interests, pushed the Missouri Compromise through the House. In the House for the last time (1823-25), he once more became (1823) speaker, and he did much to augment the powers of that office. In this session he secured the western extension of the National Road and, against much opposition, eloquently carried through the Tariff of 1824.

Secretary of State

As a candidate for the presidency in 1824, Clay had the fourth largest number of electoral votes, and, with no candidate having a majority, the election went to the House, where the three highest were to be voted upon. It became Clay's duty to vote for one of his rivals. Despite the Western interests of Andrew Jackson and despite the instructions of the Kentucky legislature to vote for him, Clay's dislike for the military hero was so intense that he voted for John Quincy Adams. When President Adams appointed Clay Secretary of State, Jackson's friends cried "corrupt bargain" and charged Clay with political collusion. Evidence has not been found to prove this, but the accusation impeded Clay's future political fortunes. As Secretary of State (1825-29), he secured congressional approval-which came too late for the American delegates to attend-of U.S. participation in the Pan-American Congress of 1826.

Senator

In 1828, Clay again supported Adams for President, and Jackson's success bitterly disappointed him. Although he intended to retire from politics, Clay was elected (1831) to the U.S. Senate and now led the National Republicans, who were beginning to call themselves Whigs (because they opposed Jackson's "tyranny"; see Whig party). Hoping to embarrass Jackson, Clay led the opposition in the Senate to the President's policies, but when the election came Jackson was overwhelmingly reelected.

Clay's chagrin was buried in the crisis developing over the tariff. South Carolina's nullification of the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 as well as Jackson's threats of armed invasion of that state allowed Clay to gain politically-working, even at the cost of his own protectionist views, toward a compromise with the John C. Calhoun faction, he helped to promote the Compromise Tariff of 1833.

Clay opposed the Jackson regime at every turn, particularly on the bank issue. When Jackson had the deposits removed (1833) from the Bank of the United States to his "pet banks," Clay secured in the Senate passage of a resolution-later expunged (Jan., 1837) from the record-censuring the President for his act.

Refusing to run for President in 1836, Clay continued his opposition tactics against Van Buren's administration and fought the subtreasury system in vain. In 1840, Clay lost the Whig nomination to William H. Harrison, mainly because of Thurlow Weed's adroit politics. Clay supported Harrison and, when Harrison was elected, was offered the post of Secretary of State, but he chose to stay in the Senate. He now planned to reestablish the Bank of the United States, but the unexpected accession of John Tyler to the presidency and his vetoes of Clay's bills caused Clay to resign his Senate seat.

In 1844 he ran against James K. Polk, an avowed expansionist. Earlier Clay had publicly opposed the annexation of Texas, and he restated his position in the "Alabama letters," agreeing to annexation if it could be accomplished with the common consent of the Union and without war. This maneuver probably lost him New York state, with which he could have won the election. His failure was crushing for him and for the Whig party. In 1848 his party refused him its nomination, feeling that he had no chance, and his presidential aspirations were never fulfilled.

He reentered (1849) the Senate when the country faced the slavery question in the territory newly acquired following the Mexican War. Clay denounced the extremists in both North and South, asserted the superior claims of the Union, and was chiefly instrumental in shaping the Compromise of 1850. It was the third time that he saved the Union in a crisis, and thus he has been called the Great Pacificator and the Great Compromiser.

Bibliography

See his works (7 vol., 1896) and his papers (ed. by J. Hopkins et al., 11 vol., 1959-92); biographies by C. Schurz (1887, repr. 1968), G. Van Deusen (1937), B. Mayo (1937, repr. 1966), and D. S. and J. T. Heidler (2010); studies by C. Eaton (1957) and R. V. Remini (2010).

A Whig political leader of the early nineteenth century known for his efforts to keep the United States one nation despite sharp controversy among Americans over slavery. Clay represented Kentucky, first in the House of Representatives and then in the Senate. He was known as the “Great Pacificator” because of his prominent role in producing the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850.

Fiery southern lawmaker, Speaker of the House, and Secretary of State Henry Clay played a pivotal role in preserving the Union during the early and middle years of the nineteenth century. Clay rose from modest origins to become a well-known politician. During his lifetime, the self-educated leader was known as the Great Compromiser and the Great Pacifier, epithets earned for his ability to find the necessary middle ground between the federal government and the states over issues such as slavery, tariffs, and the admittance of new states to the Union. Argumentative, eloquent, and quick to propose a duel if insulted, he helped forge the Missouri Compromise of 1820 during a career that included five bids for the presidency. His contributions to federal policy ranged from trade and finance to foreign affairs in the administration of President John QuincyAdams.

Born in Hanover County, Virginia, on April 12, 1777, Clay became a lawyer by the age of twenty. He moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where he entered private practice while keeping an eye open for an entry to politics. Frontier life suited him. He especially liked gambling and drinking, pursuits that only exacerbated his hot temper. But he flourished as an attorney. His sharp oratory brought him prominence and while not yet thirty he represented former vice president AaronBurr in grand jury proceedings involving Burr's real estate dealings.

In 1799, Clay married the socially prominent Lucretia Hart. Clay and his wife eventually had eleven children, and great tragedy. All six daughters and one son died at a young age.

Clay rose quickly through Kentucky politics. He used his opposition to the repressive Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 as a springboard into the state legislature in 1803, where he ultimately served seven terms. Immensely popular with his fellow lawmakers, Clay was their choice to fill an expired term in the U.S. Senate in 1806—despite his not having reached the constitutionally mandated minimum age of thirty. In 1810, he assumed a vacant seat in the Senate for a one-year period.

Two ironies emerged from Clay's early political career. Both would bear on his future course as a national leader. First, he opposed slavery and favored emancipation, an unusual and unpopular position in nineteenth-century southern politics. Clay saw slavery as evil. He was not, however, ultimately interested in blacks' sharing in U.S. society: he would later become an originator of the American Colonization Society, which sought to return former slaves to Africa, and at his death, his will would free the fifty slaves he had owned and provide for their transportation to Liberia. Second, Clay's sensitivity to insult and his hair-trigger temper landed him in personal crises that would continue throughout his career. He fought his first duel with a fellow Kentucky lawmaker in 1809, and by the time he became secretary of state, he would be dueling with a U.S. senator.

Brief service in Washington, D.C., whetted Clay's appetite for a national political career. From 1811 to 1821, and 1823 to 1825, he was elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican. He served as Speaker of the House for all but two of those years. Clay advocated a national economic policy that he called the American System, an ambitious attempt to link the East and West through transportation reforms, protectionism in the form of tariffs to boost U.S. industries, a plan for national defense, and a reorganization of the National Bank. Calling for war with Britain in 1812, he became nationally prominent as a leading member of the so-called War Hawks. In 1814, he acted as a representative to the Ghent Peace Commission, which ended the War of 1812. Strong stands were his trademark: in 1819, opposing General Andrew Jackson's invasion of Florida, he resigned as Speaker of the House.

In 1820 Clay helped bring about the Missouri Compromise. This was a federal response to a bitter controversy over new slave states' joining the Union, which came to a head when the slave-owning Missouri Territory applied for admission in 1818. Northerners objected to the entry of more slave states. Southerners protested when the House considered a measure that would block further slavery in Missouri. ThomasJefferson declared the Missouri issue—and in particular questions of constitutional authority—to be part of a Federalist conspiracy to destroy the Union. Clay drafted a compromise, persuading northern lawmakers to drop the slavery restriction, while southern lawmakers agreed to limit the geographic boundaries of slavery. In 1821 he secured a second compromise in the form of a resolution that prohibited Missouri from discriminating against citizens from other states. Clay won wide praise for his work, although the compromise would be undone in time by the Supreme Court and the question of slavery would be ultimately decided by the Civil War.

As a candidate of the Whig party, Clay made his first of five bids for the White House in 1824. He never succeeded, but the first failure bore fruit. In a runoff between Jackson and Adams that was decided in the House, Clay gave his support to Adams, who won. Clay's reward was the job of secretary of state, one he had long coveted.

For years, Democrats bitterly scorned the obvious deal, and the criticism wounded Clay. By 1826, he became the target of a particularly venomous attack by Senator John Randolph, an old opponent, who compared Clay to one of the scoundrels from Henry Fielding's novel Tom Jones in a series of blasts at Clay's competence and ethics as secretary. Clay promptly challenged Randolph to a little-celebrated pistol duel—a series of bad aims and misfires in which neither man could hit anything and the two ended up shaking hands.

In 1831 Clay returned to the Senate to represent Kentucky for an eleven-year stretch, to which he added another term from 1849 to 1852. Two of his achievements were significant. One was the Compromise Tariff of 1833, which eased the situation caused by South Carolina's nullification policy—a political doctrine under which a state held that it could reject any federal law that it deemed unconstitutional. Upset over federal tariffs that it found discriminatory, South Carolina had refused to allow tariffs to be collected in its state and had threatened to secede from the Union. This refusal brought the first test of a state's decision to invoke nullification, and the reaction was swift: President Jackson, declaring that the state had no right to nullify a federal law, threatened to send troops. Clay's compromise called for a gradually declining tariff, which pleased South Carolina, averting further trouble. But, like the Missouri Compromise, it was a temporary balm to the aggravations between the North and the South.

Clay's greatest achievement occurred at the end of his long career. In 1850, as the question of slavery threatened to split the nation, he formulated a plan that fairly decided the admission of California and the New Mexico and Utah territories as free or slave states. Again, a compromise of his averted civil war.

Clay died two years later, on June 29, 1852, in Washington, D.C. The war he had helped forestall came less than a decade after his death.

Quotes:

"I'd rather be right than President."

"Statistics are no substitute for judgment."

"Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character."

"Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart."

"Yes, sir, from Constantinople, or from the Brazils; from Turk or christian; from black or white; from the dey of Algiers or the bey of Tunis; from the devil himself, if he wore a crown, we should receive a minister."

"In a scheme of policy which is devised for a nation, we should not limit our views to its operation during a single year, or even for a short term of years. We should look at its operation for a considerable time, and in war as well as in peace."

See more famous quotes by Henry Clay

For other people named Henry Clay, see Henry Clay (disambiguation).

Henry Clay
Henry Clay 1818 portrait by Matthew Harris Jouett
8th, 10th and 13th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
In office March 4, 1823 – March 4, 1825 March 4, 1815 – October 28, 1820 March 4, 1811 – January 19, 1814
President	James Madison James Monroe
9th United States Secretary of State
In office March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829
Preceded by	John Quincy Adams
Succeeded by	Martin Van Buren
United States Senator from Kentucky
In office March 5, 1849 – June 29, 1852 November 10, 1831 – March 31, 1842 January 4, 1810 – March 4, 1811 December 29, 1806 – March 4, 1807
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 3rd district
In office March 4, 1823 – March 4, 1825
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 2nd district 3rd district (1811–1813)
In office March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1821 March 4, 1811 – January 19, 1814
Personal details
Born	April 12, 1777 (1777-04-12) Hanover County, Virginia
Died	June 29, 1852 (1852-06-30) (aged 75) Washington, D.C.
Political party	Democratic-Republican National Republican Whig
Spouse(s)	Lucretia Hart Clay
Children	Henrietta, Theodore, Thomas, Susan, Anne, Lucretia, Henry, Jr., Eliza, Laura, James Brown Clay, and John Morrison Clay
Alma mater	Did not attend college
Profession	Law
Religion	Episcopalian
Signature

Henry Clay, Sr. (April 12, 1777 – June 29, 1852), was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives. He served three different terms as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and was also Secretary of State from 1825 to 1829.

Clay was a dominant figure in both the First and Second Party systems. As a leading war hawk, he favored war with Britain and played a significant role in leading the nation to war in 1812.^[1] Later he was involved in the "Corrupt Bargain" of 1824, after which he was appointed Secretary of State by newly elected President John Quincy Adams. He was the foremost proponent of the American System, fighting for an increase in tariffs to foster industry in the United States, the use of federal funding to build and maintain infrastructure, and a strong national bank. He opposed the annexation of Texas, fearing it would inject the slavery issue into politics. Clay also opposed the Mexican-American War and the "Manifest Destiny" policy of Democrats, which cost him votes in the close 1844 election.

Dubbed the "Great Compromiser," Clay brokered important compromises during the Nullification Crisis and on the slavery issue. As part of the "Great Triumvirate" or "Immortal Trio," along with his colleagues Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun, he was instrumental in formulating the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850. He was viewed as the primary representative of Western interests in this group, and was given the names "Henry of the West" and "The Western Star."^[2] A plantation owner, Clay held slaves during his lifetime but freed them in his Will.^[3]

Abraham Lincoln, the Whig leader in Illinois, was a great admirer of Clay, saying he was "my ideal of a great man." Lincoln wholeheartedly supported Clay's economic programs.^[4] In 1957, a Senate Committee selected Clay as one of the five greatest U.S. Senators, along with Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Robert La Follette, and Robert Taft.^[5]

Contents 1 Early life and education 1.1 Childhood 1.2 Education 1.3 Legal career 1.4 Marriage and family 2 Early political career 2.1 State legislator 2.2 First Senate appointment and eligibility 2.3 Speaker of the State House and duel with Humphrey Marshall 2.4 Second Senate appointment 3 Speaker of the House 3.1 Early years 3.2 The "American System" 3.3 Foreign policy 3.4 The Missouri Compromise and 1820s 3.5 Election of 1824 and Secretary of State 3.6 Slave freedom suit 4 Senate career 4.1 The Nullification Crisis 4.2 Opposition to Jackson and creation of Whig Party 4.3 The Compromise of 1850 5 Death and estate 6 Monuments and memorials 7 Notes 8 References 8.1 Primary sources 9 External links

Early life and education

Childhood

Henry Clay was born on April 12, 1777, at the Clay homestead in Hanover County, Virginia in a story-and-a-half frame house. It was an above-average home for a common Virginia planter of that time. At the time of his death, Clay's father owned more than 22 slaves, making him part of the planter class in Virginia (those men who owned 20 or more slaves).^[6]

Henry was the seventh of nine children of the Reverend John Clay and Elizabeth Hudson Clay.^[7] His father, a Baptist minister nicknamed "Sir John," died four years after his birth (1781).^[6] The father left Henry and his brothers two slaves each, and his wife 18 slaves and 464 acres (188 ha) of land.^[8] Henry Clay was a second cousin of Cassius Marcellus Clay, who became an abolitionist in Kentucky.

The widow Elizabeth Clay married Capt. Henry Watkins, who was an affectionate stepfather. Henry Watkins then moved the family to Richmond, Virginia.^[9] Elizabeth had seven more children with Watkins, bearing a total of sixteen.^[8]

Education

In Richmond, Clay was hired as a shop assistant.^[9] His stepfather secured Clay employment in the office of the Court of Chancery, where he displayed an aptitude for law.^[10] There he became friends with George Wythe.^[10] Hampered by a crippled hand, Wythe chose Clay as his secretary.^[10] After Clay was employed as Wythe's amanuensis for four years, the chancellor took an active interest in Clay's future; he arranged a position for him with the Virginia attorney general, Robert Brooke. Clay received no formal legal education but, as was customary at the time, "read the law" by working and studying with Wythe, Chancellor of the Commonwealth of Virginia (also a mentor to Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall, among others) and Brooke.^[11] Clay studied for the bar for a year under Brooke and was admitted to practice law in 1797.^[9]

Legal career

In November 1797, Clay relocated to Lexington, Kentucky, the growing town near where his family then resided in Woodford County. He soon established a reputation for his legal skills and courtroom oratory.^[12] Some of his clients paid him with horses and others with land. Clay came to own town lots and the Kentucky Hotel.

By 1812, Clay owned a productive 600-acre (240 ha) plantation, which he called "Ashland," and numerous slaves to work the land.^[3] He held 60 slaves at the peak of operations, and likely produced tobacco and hemp, the two chief commodity crops of the Bluegrass Region.

One of Clay's clients was his father-in-law, Colonel Thomas Hart, an early settler of Kentucky and a prominent businessman.^[13] Clay's most notable client was Aaron Burr in 1806, after the US District Attorney Joseph Hamilton Daviess indicted him for planning an expedition into Spanish Territory west of the Mississippi River. Clay and his law partner John Allen successfully defended Burr.^[14] Some years later Thomas Jefferson convinced Clay that Daviess had been right in his charges. Clay was so upset that many years later, when he met Burr again, Clay refused to shake his hand.^[15]

Marriage and family

Henry Clay and his wife, the former Lucretia Hart

After beginning his law career, on April 11, 1799, Clay married Lucretia Hart at the Hart home in Lexington, Kentucky. She was a sister to Captain Nathaniel G. S. Hart, who died in the Massacre of the River Raisin in the War of 1812.^[13]

Clay and his wife had eleven children (six daughters and five sons): Henrietta (1800–1801), Theodore (1802–1870), Thomas (1803–1871), Susan (1805–1825), Anne (1807–1835), Lucretia (1809–1823), Henry, Jr.(1811–1847), Eliza (1813–1825), Laura (1815–1817), James Brown (1817–1864), and John (1821–1887).

Seven of Clay's children died before him as well as his wife. By 1835 all six daughters had died of varying causes, two when very young, two as children, the other two as young women: from whooping cough, yellow fever, and complications of childbirth. Henry Clay, Jr. was killed at the Battle of Buena Vista during the Mexican-American War.

Lucretia Hart Clay died in 1864 at the age of 83. She is interred with her husband in the vault of his monument at the Lexington Cemetery. Henry and Lucretia Clay were great-grandparents of the suffragette Madeline McDowell Breckinridge.^[16]

Early political career

State legislator

View of Henry Clay's law office (1803-1810), Lexington, Kentucky

In 1803 Clay was elected to serve as the representative of Fayette County in the Kentucky General Assembly. As a legislator, Clay advocated a liberal interpretation of the state's constitution and initially the gradual emancipation of slavery in Kentucky, although the political realities of the time forced him to abandon that position.^[3] Clay also advocated moving the state capitol from Frankfort to Lexington. He defended the Kentucky Insurance Company, which he saved from an attempt in 1804 by Felix Grundy to repeal its monopolistic charter.^[17]

First Senate appointment and eligibility

Clay's influence in Kentucky state politics was quickly such that in 1806 the Kentucky legislature elected him to the Senate seat of John Breckinridge. He had resigned when appointed as US Attorney General. The legislature first chose John Adair to complete Breckinridge's term, but he had to resign over his alleged role in the Burr Conspiracy.^[18] On December 29, 1806, Clay was sworn in as senator, serving for less than one year that first time.^[19]

When elected by the legislature, Clay was below the constitutionally required age of thirty. His age did not appear to have been noticed by any other Senator, and perhaps not by Clay.^[19] Three months and 17 days into his Senate service, he reached the age of eligibility.^[20] Such an age qualification issue has occurred with only two other U.S. Senators. Joe Biden was also elected to the Senate at the age of 29, but he had reached the required age of 30 before being sworn in.^[21]

Speaker of the State House and duel with Humphrey Marshall

When Clay returned to Kentucky in 1807, he was elected the Speaker of the state House of Representatives.^[22] On January 3, 1809, Clay introduced a resolution to require members to wear homespun suits rather than those made of imported British broadcloth. Two members voted against the measure. One was Humphrey Marshall, an "aristocratic lawyer who possessed a sarcastic tongue," who had been hostile toward Clay in 1806 during the trial of Aaron Burr.^[23]

Clay and Marshall nearly came to blows on the Assembly floor, and Clay challenged Marshall to a duel. The duel took place on January 9 in Shippingport, Kentucky. They each had three turns. Clay grazed Marshall once, just below the chest. Marshall hit Clay once in the thigh.^[23]

Second Senate appointment

In 1810, United States Senator Buckner Thruston resigned to serve as a judge on the United States Circuit Court, and Clay was again selected to fill his seat.

Speaker of the House

Early years

In the summer of 1811, Clay was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He was chosen Speaker of the House on the first day of his first session, something never done before or since. During the fourteen years following his first election, he was re-elected five times to the House and to the speakership.^[24] Like other Southern Congressmen, Clay took slaves to Washington, DC to work in his household. They included Aaron and Charlotte Dupuy, their son Charles and daughter Mary Ann.^[25]

Before Clay's election as Speaker of the House, the position had been that of a rule enforcer and mediator. Clay made the position one of political power second only to the President of the United States. He immediately appointed members of the War Hawk faction (of which he was the "guiding spirit")^[1] to all the important committees, effectively giving him control of the House. This was a singular achievement for a 34-year-old House freshman. During his early House service, Clay strongly opposed the creation of a National Bank, in part because of his personal ownership in several small banks in his hometown of Lexington. Later he changed his position and, when he was seeking the presidency, gave strong support for the Second National Bank.

The War Hawks, mostly from the South and the West, resented British violations of United States (US) maritime rights and its treatment of US sailors; they feared British designs on US territory in the Old Northwest. They advocated a declaration of war against the British.^[26] As the Congressional leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, Clay took charge of the agenda, especially as a "War Hawk" supporting the War of 1812 against the British Empire. Later, as one of the peace commissioners, Clay helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent and signed it on December 24, 1814.^[3] In 1815, while still in Europe, he helped negotiate a commerce treaty with Great Britain.

Henry Clay helped establish and became president in 1816 of the American Colonization Society, a group that wanted to establish a colony for free American blacks in Africa; it founded Monrovia, in what became Liberia, for that purpose. The group was made up of both abolitionists from the North, who wanted to end slavery, and slaveholders, who wanted to deport free blacks to reduce what they considered a threat to the stability of slave society. On the "amalgamation" of the black and white races, Clay said that "The God of Nature, by the differences of color and physical constitution, has decreed against it."^[27] Clay presided at the founding meeting of the ACS on December 21, 1816, at the Davis Hotel in Washington, D.C. Attendees included Robert Finley, James Monroe, Bushrod Washington, Andrew Jackson, Francis Scott Key, and Daniel Webster.

The "American System"

Main article: American System (economic plan)

Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun helped to pass the Tariff of 1816 as part of the national economic plan Clay called "The American System," rooted in Alexander Hamilton's American School. Described later by Friedrich List, it was designed to allow the fledgling American manufacturing sector, largely centered on the eastern seaboard, to compete with British manufacturing through the creation of tariffs.

After the conclusion of the War of 1812, British factories were overwhelming American ports with inexpensive goods. To persuade voters in the western states to support the tariff, Clay advocated federal government support for internal improvements to infrastructure, principally roads and canals. These internal improvements would be financed by the tariff and by sale of the public lands, prices for which would be kept high to generate revenue. Finally, a national bank would stabilize the currency and serve as the nexus of a truly national financial system.

Clay's American System ran into strong opposition from President Jackson's administration. One of the most important points of contention between the two men was over the Maysville Road. Jackson vetoed a bill which would authorize federal funding for a project to construct a road linking Lexington and the Ohio River, the entirety of which would be in the state of Kentucky, because he felt that it did not constitute interstate commerce, as specified in the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.

Foreign policy

In foreign policy, Clay was the leading American supporter of independence movements and revolutions in Latin America after 1817. Between 1821 and 1826, the U.S. recognized all the new countries, except Uruguay (whose independence was debated and recognized only later), though Haiti remained unrecognized. When in 1826 the U.S. was invited to attend the Columbia Conference of new nations, opposition emerged, and the American delegation never arrived. Clay supported the Greek independence revolutionaries in 1824 who wished to separate from the Ottoman Empire, an early move into European affairs.

The Missouri Compromise and 1820s

In 1820 a dispute erupted over the extension of slavery in Missouri Territory. Clay helped settle this dispute by gaining Congressional approval for a plan called the "Missouri Compromise". It brought in Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state (thus maintaining the balance in the Senate, which had included 11 free and 11 slave states), and it forbade slavery north of 36° 30' (the northern boundary of Arkansas and the latitude line) except in Missouri.

Portrait of Henry Clay

Election of 1824 and Secretary of State

Main article: Election of 1824

By 1824, the unparalleled success of the Democratic-Republican Party had driven all other parties from the field. Four major candidates, including Clay, sought the office of president. Because of the unusually large number of candidates receiving electoral votes, no candidate secured a majority and the tie between the two front runners, Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams, was broken in the House of Representatives.

Clay used his political clout to secure the victory for Adams, who he felt would be both more sympathetic to Clay's political views and more likely to appoint Clay to a cabinet position. When Clay was appointed Secretary of State, his maneuver was called a "corrupt bargain" by many of Jackson's supporters and tarnished Clay's reputation.

Slave freedom suit

Main article: Charlotte Dupuy

As Secretary of State, Clay lived with his family and slaves in Decatur House on Lafayette Square. As he was preparing to return to Lexington in 1829, his slave Charlotte Dupuy sued Clay for her freedom and that of her two children, based on a promise by an earlier owner. Her legal challenge to slavery preceded the more famous Dred Scott case by 17 years. The "freedom suit" received a fair amount of attention in the press at the time. Dupuy's attorney gained an order from the court for her to remain in DC until the case was settled, and she worked for wages for 18 months for Martin Van Buren, the successor to Secretary of State and the Decatur House. Clay returned to Ashland with Aaron, Charles and Mary Ann Dupuy.^[28][29]

The jury ruled against Dupuy, deciding that any agreement with her previous master Condon did not bear on Clay. Because Dupuy refused to return voluntarily to Kentucky, Clay had his agent arrest her. She was imprisoned in Alexandria, Virginia before Clay arranged for her transport to New Orleans, where he placed her with his daughter and son-in-law Martin Duralde. Mary Ann Dupuy was sent to join her mother, and they worked as domestic slaves for the Duraldes for another decade.^[28]

In 1840 Henry Clay finally gave Charlotte and her daughter Mary Ann Dupuy their freedom. He kept her son Charles Dupuy as a personal servant, frequently citing him as an example of how well he treated his slaves. Clay granted Charles Dupuy his freedom in 1844.^[28] While no deed of emancipation has been found for Aron Dupuy, in 1860 he and Charlotte were living together as free black residents in Fayette County, Kentucky. He may have been freed or "given his time" by one of Clay's sons, as Dupuy continued to work at Ashland, for pay.^[25]

Decatur House in Washington, DC, a National Historic Landmark and museum on Lafayette Square near the White House, has exhibits on urban slavery and Charlotte Dupuy's freedom suit against Henry Clay.^[28]

Senate career

The Nullification Crisis

Main article: Nullification Crisis

After the passage of the Tariff of 1828, dubbed the "tariff of abominations" which raised tariffs considerably in an attempt to protect fledgling factories built under previous tariff legislation, South Carolina declared its right to nullify federal tariff legislation and stopped assessing the tariff on imports. It threatened to secede from the Union if the Federal government tried to enforce the tariff laws. Furious, President Jackson threatened to lead an army to South Carolina and hang any man who refused to obey the law.

The crisis worsened until 1833 when Clay, again a U.S. Senator re-elected by Kentucky in 1831, helped to broker a deal in Congress to lower the tariff gradually. This measure helped to preserve the supremacy of the Federal government over the states, but the crisis was indicative of the developing conflict between the northern and southern United States over economics and slavery.

Opposition to Jackson and creation of Whig Party

Henry Clay

After the election of Andrew Jackson, Clay led the opposition to Jackson's policies. His supporters included the National Republicans, who were beginning to identify as "Whigs" in honor of ancestors during the Revolutionary War. They opposed the "tyranny" of Jackson, as their ancestors had opposed the tyranny of King George III. Clay strongly opposed Jackson's refusal to renew the charter of the Second Bank of the United States, and advocated passage of a resolution to censure Jackson for his actions.

In 1832 the National Republicans unanimously nominated Clay for the presidency. Jackson was nominated by the Democrats. The main issue was the policy of continuing the Second Bank of the United States. Clay lost by a wide margin to the highly popular Jackson (55% to 37%).

In 1840, Clay was a candidate for the Whig nomination, but he was defeated at the party convention by supporters of war hero William Henry Harrison. Harrison was chosen because his war record was attractive, and he was seen as more likely to win than Clay.

In 1844, Clay was nominated by the Whigs against James K. Polk, the Democratic candidate. Clay lost in part due to national sentiment in favor of Polk's "54°40' or Fight" campaign. This was to settle the northern boundary of the United States with Canada, then under the control of the British Empire. Clay opposed admitting Texas as a state because he believed it would reawaken the slavery issue and provoke Mexico to declare war. Polk took the opposite view, supported by most of the public, especially in the Southern United States. The election was close; New York's 36 electoral votes proved the difference, and went to Polk by a slim 5,000 vote margin. Liberty Party candidate James G. Birney won slightly more than 15,000 votes in New York and likely attracted votes that might have gone to Clay. His warnings about Texas proved prescient. The US annexation of Texas led to the Mexican-American War (1846–1848) (in which his namesake son died). The North and South came to increased tensions during Polk's Presidency over the extension of slavery into Texas and beyond.

The Compromise of 1850

Main article: Compromise of 1850

After losing the Whig Party nomination to Zachary Taylor in 1848, Clay decided to retire to his Ashland estate in Kentucky. Retired for less than a year, he was in 1849 again elected to the U.S. Senate from Kentucky. During his term, the controversy over the expansion of slavery in new lands had reemerged with the addition of the lands ceded to the United States by Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo at the conclusion of the Mexican-American War. David Wilmot, a Northern congressman, had proposed preventing the extension of slavery into any of the new territory in a proposal referred to as the "Wilmot Proviso".^[30]

On January 29, 1850, Clay proposed a series of resolutions, which he considered to reconcile Northern and Southern interests, what would widely be called the Compromise of 1850. While Clay originally intended the resolutions to be voted on separately, at the urging of southerners, Clay agreed to the creation of a Committee of Thirteen to consider the measures. The committee was formed on April 17. Clay as chair of the committee, on May 8 presented an omnibus bill linking all of the resolutions.^[31] The resolutions included:

• Admission of California as a free state, ending the balance of free and slave states in the senate.^[30]
• Organization of the Utah and New Mexico territories without any slavery provisions, giving the right to determine whether to allow slavery to the territorial populations.^[30]
• Prohibition of the slave trade, not the ownership of slaves, in the District of Columbia.^[30]
• A more stringent Fugitive Slave Act.^[30]
• Establishment of boundaries for the state of Texas in exchange for federal payment of Texas's ten million dollar debt.^[30]
• A declaration by Congress that it did not have the authority to interfere with the interstate slave trade.^[32]

The Omnibus bill, despite Clay's efforts, failed in a crucial vote on July 31 with the majority of his Whig Party opposed. He announced on the Senate floor the next day that he intended to persevere and pass each individual part of the bill. Clay was physically exhausted; the tuberculosis that would eventually kill him began to take its toll. Clay left the Senate to recuperate in Newport, Rhode Island. Stephen A. Douglas separated the bills and guided them through the Senate.^[33]

Clay was given much of the credit for the Compromise's success. It quieted the controversy between Northerners and Southerners over the expansion of slavery, and delayed secession and civil war for another decade. Senator Henry S. Foote of Mississippi, who had suggested the creation of the Committee of Thirteen, later said, "Had there been one such man in the Congress of the United States as Henry Clay in 1860–'61 there would, I feel sure, have been no civil war."^[34]

Death and estate

Clay's estate, Ashland, in Lexington, Kentucky

Clay continued to serve both the Union he loved and his home state of Kentucky. On June 29, 1852, he died of tuberculosis in Washington, D.C., at the age of 75. Clay was the first person to lie in state in the United States Capitol.

He was buried in Lexington Cemetery, and Theodore Frelinghuysen, Clay's vice-presidential candidate in the election of 1844, gave the eulogy.^[35] Clay's headstone reads: "I know no North — no South — no East — no West." Even though the 1852 pro-slavery^[36] novel Life at the South; or, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" As It Is, by W.L.G. Smith, is dedicated to his memory,^[37] Clay's Will freed all the slaves he held.^[3]

Ashland, named for the many ash trees on the property, was Clay's plantation and mansion for many years. He held as many as 60 slaves at the peak of the plantation operations. It was there he introduced the Hereford livestock breed to the United States.

By the time of his death, his only surviving sons were James Brown Clay and John Morrison Clay, who inherited the estate and took portions for use. For several years (1866–1878), James Clay allowed the mansion to be used as a residence for the regent of Kentucky University, forerunner of the University of Kentucky and present-day Transylvania University. Later the mansion and estate were rebuilt and remodeled by later descendants. John Clay designated his portion of the estate as Ashland Stud, which he devoted to breeding thoroughbred horses.

Maintained and operated as a museum, today Ashland includes 17 acres (6.9 ha) of the original estate grounds. It is located on Richmond Road (US 25) in Lexington. It is open to the public (admission charged).

Henry Clay is credited with introducing the mint julep drink to Washington, D.C., at the Willard Hotel during his residence as a senator in the city.^[38]

Monuments and memorials

Tomb in Lexington, KY

Henry Clay Monument in New Orleans ca.1890

• Memorial column and statue at his tomb in Lexington, Kentucky
• Henry Clay monument in Pottsville, Pennsylvania^[39]
• Clay Streets in numerous cities, including New Haven, Connecticut, Richmond, Virginia, and Vicksburg, Mississippi
• Mount Clay in the Presidential Range of New Hampshire was named for Clay, since renamed Mount Reagan by the state legislature but not by the federal Board on Geographic Names
• Fifteen Clay counties in the United States, in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. (Clay County, Iowa is named for his son.)
• Ashland Ave. in Chicago, Illinois; Ashland, Virginia, Ashland County in Ohio and Wisconsin were named for his estate, as were the cities of Ashland in Kentucky, Alabama, and Pennsylvania.
• Ashland, Missouri, was named after Clay's Lexington, Kentucky estate, and Henry Clay Blvd was named for him in the same city.
• In New Orleans: Uptown – Henry Clay Avenue, and Downtown – 20-foot-tall monument erected in 1860 at Canal Street and St, Charles/Royal Avenues, and moved to the center of Lafayette Square in 1901.
• Henry Clay High School in Lexington, Kentucky,^[40] Henry Clay Middle School in Los Angeles, California, Henry Clay Elementary School in the Hegewisch neighborhood in Chicago, and Henry Clay Elementary School in his birthplace, Hanover County, Virginia.
• The "Instituto Educacional Henry Clay" in Caracas, Venezuela, a bilingual private school
• The Clay Dormitory at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky
• The Lafayette class submarine USS Henry Clay (SSBN-625), the only ship of the United States Navy named in his honor, although the USS Ashland is named for his estate
• Clay, New York, including the road Henry Clay Blvd.
• Henry Clay Village, on the left bank of Brandywine Creek just outside Wilmington, Delaware, factory and mill worker's residences.
• Clay is one of the many senators honored with a cenotaph in the Congressional Cemetery.
• He has been honored by the United States Postal Service with a 3¢ Great Americans series postage stamp.
• The town of Claysburg in central Pennsylvania is named in honor of Clay.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Eaton, Clement (1957). Henry Clay and the Art of American Politics. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company. p. 25. 
2. ^ Eaton, Clement (1957). Henry Clay and the Art of American Politics. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 22, 26. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} Henry Clay Biography: The Great Compromiser.
4. ^ Shearer Davis Bowman, "Comparing Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln," Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. 106 (Summer–Autumn 2008), 495–512.
5. ^ "The "Famous Five"". http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/The_Famous_Five.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-29. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Eaton, Clement (1957). Henry Clay and the Art of American Politics. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company. p. 5. 
7. ^ Van Deusen, 4.
8. ^ ^{a b} Eaton, Clement (1957). Henry Clay and the Art of American Politics. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company. p. 6. 
9. ^ ^{a b c} "Henry Clay", Encyclopedia of World Biography.
10. ^ ^{a b c} Eaton, Clement (1957). Henry Clay and the Art of American Politics. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company. p. 7. 
11. ^ Schurz, Carl (1915). Henry Clay, Volume 1. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 8–9. http://books.google.com/books?id=cYVLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA7#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved Fenruary 6, 2011. 
12. ^ "Death of Henry Clay: Sketch of His Life and Public Career", New York Times. June 30, 1852, p. 1.
13. ^ ^{a b} Eaton, Clement (1957). Henry Clay and the Art of American Politics. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company. p. 12. 
14. ^ Elizabeth Shelby Kinkead (1896). A history of Kentucky. American book company. p. 111. http://books.google.com/books?id=zfETAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA111#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved September 4, 2011. 
15. ^ Eaton, Clement (1957). Henry Clay and the Art of American Politics. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company. p. 15. 
16. ^ "Madeline McDowell Breckenridge (Women in Kentucky – Reform)". Kentucky Commission on Women. http://www.womeninkentucky.com/site/reform/m_breckinridge.html. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
17. ^ David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, Henry Clay: The Essential American. (2010) pp 48–51.
18. ^ Smucker, Isaac. "Kentucky – Early History", National Magazine: A Monthly Journal of American History, Volume 12, page 462.
19. ^ ^{a b} Schurz, Carl. Life of Henry Clay, pages 38–39.
20. ^ See Finlay, Luke. "THE CASE OF HENRY CLAY.; Records of the Senate Show No Question Raised as to His Age", Letter to Editor, New York Times (1935-07-20): "How can we make a precedent of their unconscious failure to pass upon the matter?".
21. ^ "Rand Paul & Joe Biden in Senate Chambers". January 10, 2011(original CSPAN2 airdate January 5, 2011). http://pageonekentucky.com/2011/01/10/rand-paul-joe-biden-in-senate-chambers/. Retrieved January 13, 2011. 
22. ^ Henry Clay – Famous American Biographies.
23. ^ ^{a b} Eaton, Clement (1957). Henry Clay and the Art of American Politics. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company. p. 17. 
24. ^ Eaton, Clement (1957). Henry Clay and the Art of American Politics. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company. p. 23. 
25. ^ ^{a b} "Aaron and Charlotte Dupuy", Isaac Scott Hathaway Museum of Lexington, Kentucky.
26. ^ Eaton, Clement (1957). Henry Clay and the Art of American Politics. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company. p. 24. 
27. ^ Eaton (1957) p. 133.
28. ^ ^{a b c d} "Charlotte Dupuy", 'Half Had Not Been Told Me': African American History of Lafayette Square (1795–1965)], National Trust for Historic Preservation, Retrieved 21 April 2009.
29. ^ David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, Henry Clay: The Essential American, New York: Random House: 2010, pp. 217–218, accessed 12 May 2011.
30. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Infoplease: Compromise of 1850.
31. ^ Eaton (1957) pp. 188–192. Remini (1991) pp. 732–750.
32. ^ William Y. Thompson, Robert Toombs of Georgia (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1966), p. 61.
33. ^ Eaton (1957) p. 192–193. Remini (1991) pp. 756–759.
34. ^ Remini (1991) pp. 761–762.
35. ^ "Henry Clay. Eulogy Delivered by Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, at Newark, on July 13.". New York Times. July 15, 1852. 
36. ^ Plot description (Life at the South).
37. ^ Book dedication (Life at the South), University of Virginia.
38. ^ "Round Robin Bar", Willard InterContinental Washington.
39. ^ Historical Society of Schuylkill County :: The Henry Clay Monument in Pottsville.
40. ^ Henry Clay High School Home Page.

References

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Life of Henry Clay

• Baxter, Maurice G. Henry Clay and the American System (1995)
• Baxter, Maurice G. Henry Clay the Lawyer (2000).
• Bowman, Shearer Davis. "Comparing Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln," Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 106 (Summer–Autumn 2008), 495–512
• Brown, Thomas. Politics and Statesmanship: Essays on the American Whig Party (1985) ch 5
• Eaton, Clement. Henry Clay and the Art of American Politics (1957)
• Gammon, Samuel R. The Presidential Campaign of 1832 (1922)
• Heidler, David S., and Jeanne T. Heidler. Henry Clay: The Essential American (2010), major scholarly biography; 624pp
• Holt, Michael F. The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War (1999)
• Knupfer, Peter B. "Compromise and Statesmanship: Henry Clay’s Union." in Knupfer, The Union As It Is: Constitutional Unionism and Sectional Compromise, 1787–1861 (1991), pp. 119–57.
• Mayo, Bernard. Henry Clay, Spokesman of the West (1937)
• Peterson, Merrill D. The Great Triumvirate: Webster, Clay, and Calhoun (1987)
• Poage, George Rawlings. Henry Clay and the Whig Party (1936)
• Remini, Robert. Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (1991), a standard scholarly biography
• Remini, Robert. At the Edge of the Precipice: Henry Clay and the Compromise That Saved the Union (2010) 184 pages; the Compromise of 1850
• Schurz, Carl. Life of Henry Clay, 2 vols., 1899. Outdated biography.
•  Schurz, Carl (1911). "Clay, Henry". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 
• Strahan, Randall. Leading Representatives: The Agency of Leaders in the Politics of the U.S. House. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007
• Strahan, Randall; Moscardelli, Vincent G.; Haspel, Moshe; and Wike, Richard S. "The Clay Speakership Revisited" Polity 2000 32(4): 561–593. ISSN 0032-3497
• Van Deusen, Glyndon G. The Life of Henry Clay (1937), scholarly biography
• Watson, Harry L. ed. Andrew Jackson vs. Henry Clay: Democracy and Development in Antebellum America (1998)
• Zarefsky, David. "Henry Clay and the Election of 1844: the Limits of a Rhetoric of Compromise" Rhetoric & Public Affairs 2003 6(1): 79–96. ISSN 1094-8392

Primary sources

• Clay, Henry. The Papers of Henry Clay, 1797–1852. Edited by James Hopkins, Mary Hargreaves, Robert Seager II, Melba Porter Hay et al. 11 vols. University Press of Kentucky, 1959–1992. vol 1 online, 1797–1814
• Clay, Henry. Works of Henry Clay, 7 vols. (1897)

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Henry Clay

• Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship (HenryClayCS.org)
• Clay's Ashland Home web site, (HenryClay.org)
• Henry Clay: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress
• Works by Henry Clay at Project Gutenberg
• Henry Clay at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Henry Clay at Find a Grave
• A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787–1825 For Henry Clay's election results.
• Henry Clay Letters, 1825-1851 at the Newberry Library
• Letters of Henry Clay
• Abraham Lincoln's Eulogy of Henry Clay at Teaching American History.Org
• Booknotes interview with Remini on Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union, May 5, 1992.
• Texts on Wikisource:
  • "Clay, Henry". The New Student's Reference Work. Chicago: F. E. Compton and Co. 1914. 
  • Carl Schurz (1911). "Clay, Henry". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 
  • Carl Schurz (1900). "Clay, Henry". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 
  • Carl Schurz. Life of Henry Clay, 2 vols., 1899.
  • "Clay, Henry". Encyclopaedia Britannica. 5 (9th ed.). 1878. 

Henry Clay succession and navigation boxes United States Senate Preceded by John Adair United States Senator (Class 3) from Kentucky December 29, 1806 – March 4, 1807 Served alongside: Buckner Thruston Succeeded by John Pope Preceded by Buckner Thruston United States Senator (Class 2) from Kentucky January 4, 1810 – March 4, 1811 Served alongside: John Pope Succeeded by George M. Bibb Preceded by John Rowan United States Senator (Class 3) from Kentucky November 10, 1831 – March 31, 1842 Served alongside: George M. Bibb, John J. Crittenden, James Turner Morehead Succeeded by John J. Crittenden Preceded by Thomas Metcalfe United States Senator (Class 3) from Kentucky March 4, 1849 – June 29, 1852 Served alongside: Joseph R. Underwood Succeeded by David Meriwether United States House of Representatives Preceded by William T. Barry Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 5th congressional district March 4, 1811– March 3, 1813 Succeeded by William P. Duval Preceded by Samuel McKee Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 2nd congressional district March 4, 1813 – January 19, 1814 Succeeded by Joseph H. Hawkins Preceded by Joseph H. Hawkins Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 2nd congressional district March 4, 1815 – March 4, 1821 Succeeded by Samuel Hughes Woodson Preceded by John Telemachus Johnson Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 3rd congressional district March 4, 1823 – March 6, 1825 Succeeded by James Clark Political offices Preceded by John Quincy Adams United States Secretary of State Served under: John Quincy Adams March 7, 1825 – March 4, 1829 Succeeded by Martin Van Buren Preceded by Joseph B. Varnum Speaker of the United States House of Representatives November 4, 1811 – March 4, 1813; May 24, 1813 – January 19, 1814 Succeeded by Langdon Cheves Preceded by Langdon Cheves Speaker of the United States House of Representatives December 4, 1815 – March 4, 1817; December 1, 1817 – March 4, 1819; December 6, 1819 – October 28, 1820 Succeeded by John W. Taylor Preceded by Philip P. Barbour Speaker of the United States House of Representatives December 1, 1823 – March 4, 1825 Succeeded by John W. Taylor Preceded by Silas Wright New York Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance 1841 Succeeded by George Evans Maine Party political offices Preceded by James Monroe Democratic-Republican Party presidential candidate(1) 1824 (lost) Succeeded by (none) Preceded by John Quincy Adams National Republican Party presidential nominee 1832 (lost) Succeeded by (none) Preceded by William Henry Harrison Whig Party presidential candidate 1844 (lost) Succeeded by Zachary Taylor Honorary titles Preceded by William Plumer Most Senior Living U.S. Senator (Sitting or Former) December 22, 1850 – June 29, 1852 Succeeded by Elisha Mathewson Preceded by None Persons who have lain in state or honor in the United States Capitol rotunda July 1, 1852 Succeeded by Abraham Lincoln Notes and references 1. The Democratic-Republican Party split in 1824, fielding four separate candidates: Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and William Harris Crawford.

v d e Speakers of the United States House of Representatives Muhlenberg · Trumbull · Muhlenberg · Dayton · Sedgwick · Macon · Varnum · Clay · Cheves · Clay · Taylor · Barbour · Clay · Taylor · Stevenson · Bell · Polk · Hunter · White · Jones · Davis · Winthrop · Cobb · Boyd · Banks · Orr · Pennington · Grow · Colfax · Pomeroy · Blaine · Kerr · Randall · Keifer · Carlisle · Reed · Crisp · Reed · Henderson · Cannon · Clark · Gillett · Longworth · Garner · Rainey · Byrns · Bankhead · Rayburn · Martin · Rayburn · Martin · Rayburn · McCormack · Albert · O'Neill · Wright · Foley · Gingrich · Hastert · Pelosi · Boehner

v d e United States Senators from Kentucky Class 2 Brown Thruston Clay Bibb Walker Barry Hardin Crittenden Johnson Bibb Crittenden Morehead J. Underwood Thompson Powell Guthrie McCreery Stevenson Beck Carlisle Lindsay Blackburn Paynter James Martin Stanley Sackett Robsion Williamson M. Logan Chandler Stanfill Cooper Chapman T. Underwood Cooper Barkley Humphreys Cooper Huddleston McConnell Class 3 Edwards Marshall J. Breckinridge Adair Clay Pope Bledsoe Talbot W. Logan Talbot Rowan Clay Crittenden Metcalfe Clay Meriwether Dixon Crittenden J. C. Breckinridge Davis Machen McCreery Williams Blackburn Deboe McCreary Bradley Camden Beckham Ernst Barkley Withers Clements Morton Cook Ford Bunning Paul

v d e Chairmen of the United States Senate Committee on Finance Campbell • Eppes • Sanford • Holmes • Lowrie • Smith • Webster • Wright • Clay • Evans • Woodbury • Calhoun • Lewis • Atherton • Dickinson • Hunter • Pearce • Fessenden • Sherman • Fessenden • Sherman • Morrill • Bayard • Morrill • Voorhees • Morrill • Aldrich • Penrose • Simmons • Penrose • McCumber • Smoot • Harrison • George • Millikin • George • Millikin • Byrd • Long • Dole • Packwood • Bentsen • Moynihan • Packwood • Roth • Baucus • Grassley • Baucus • Grassley • Baucus

v d e United States Whig Party Presidential Nominees William Henry Harrison / Daniel Webster / Hugh Lawson White / Willie Person Mangum · William Henry Harrison · Henry Clay · Zachary Taylor · Winfield Scott · Millard Fillmore · John Bell

v d e State Secretaries of the United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs 1781–1789 R. Livingston Jay Secretary of State 1789–present Jefferson Randolph Pickering J. Marshall Madison Smith Monroe Adams Clay Van Buren E. Livingston McLane Forsyth Webster Upshur Calhoun Buchanan Clayton Webster Everett Marcy Cass Black Seward Washburne Fish Evarts Blaine Frelinghuysen Bayard Blaine Foster Gresham Olney Sherman Day Hay Root Bacon Knox Bryan Lansing Colby Hughes Kellogg Stimson Hull Stettinius Byrnes G Marshall Acheson Dulles Herter Rusk Rogers Kissinger Vance Muskie Haig Shultz Baker Eagleburger Christopher Albright Powell Rice Clinton

v d e Cabinet of President John Quincy Adams (1825–1829) Vice President John C. Calhoun (1825–1829) Secretary of State Henry Clay (1825–1829) Secretary of the Treasury Richard Rush (1825–1829) Secretary of War James Barbour (1825–1828) • Peter B. Porter (1828–1829) Attorney General William Wirt (1825–1829) Secretary of the Navy Samuel L. Southard (1825–1829)

Persondata
Name	Clay, Henry
Alternative names
Short description	American politician
Date of birth	April 12, 1777
Place of birth	Hanover County, Virginia
Date of death	June 29, 1852
Place of death	Washington, D.C.

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