Clay, Henry

Clay, Henry (1777–1852), statesman and Whig party leader in the second‐party system.Born in Virginia, Clay read law and in 1797 moved to Lexington, Kentucky. After serving in the Kentucky legislature and teaching law at Transylvania University, he won election in 1810 to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served, apart from brief intervals, until 1825, usually as Speaker. An unsuccessful presidential candidate in 1824, he participated in the congressional maneuvering that brought John Quincy Adams to the White House. When Adams appointed him secretary of state, the supporters of Andrew Jackson charged a “corrupt bargain.” After two early appointive terms in the U.S. Senate (1806–1807, 1810–1811), he won election to the Senate in 1831, serving until 1842 and again from 1849 until his death. A perennial presidental candidate, Clay ran four more times between 1832 and 1848, but it was as a master legislator, eloquent orator, and the West's magnetic “Prince Hal” that his reputation lives.

While Speaker of the House in 1812, Clay was among the “War Hawks” who favored declaring war on Britain, but he also served as a peace negotiator at Ghent (1814) and thereafter pursued conciliation in both domestic and foreign affairs. He became known as “the Great Compromiser” for his role in the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Tariff Compromise of 1833, and the sectional Compromise of 1850. Coming from the border state of Kentucky, Clay hoped desperately to avoid a civil war. Although a slaveholder, he favored the slaves' gradual emancipation and their removal to Africa. He argued in vain for the right of Native Americans to retain their lands in the Southeast. He warned, correctly, that the 1845 annexation of Texas would worsen sectional tensions and lead to war with Mexico.

As a Whig leader, Clay battled for national economic development through a program he called “the American System.” This included protective tariffs, a national bank, and federal subsidies to “internal improvements” (transportation projects like highways and canals). His Democratic party opponents, fearing the expansion of federal power at the expense of the states, frustrated the plan's adoption. Although Clay ended on the losing side of many controversies, the Republican party that arose after his death implemented much of his economic program.
See also Antebellum Era; Bank of the United States, First and Second; Calhoun, John C.; Canals and Waterways; Colonization Movement, African; Federal Government, Legislative Branch: House of Representatives; Federal Government, Legislative Branch: Senate; Political Parties; Roads and Turnpikes, Early; War of 1812.

Bibliography

Merrill Peterson , The Great Triumvirate: Webster, Clay, and Calhoun, 1987.
Robert Remini , Henry Clay, 1991.

Daniel Walker Howe