Henry Clay

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Henry Clay

Born April 12, 1777
Hanover County, Virginia

Died June 29, 1852
Washington, D.C.

Speaker of the House, politician

Henry Clay was one of the most important U.S. statesmen of the period between the Revolutionary War (1775-83) and the Civil War (1861-65). As a congressman from Kentucky, he served as Speaker of the House (the top leadership position in the House of Representatives) before and during the War of 1812, and was the leader of a group of legislators called the War Hawks. These men—most of them young and from the southern or western states—believed that the United States should go to war against Great Britain. Although he lacked the brilliance of men like Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and James Madison (1751-1836; see biographical entry), Clay was an effective speaker with a charming, persuasive personality. He gained enough of a following to run for president five times, but he never gained that office.

A boy from Virginia

Henry Clay was born in the middle of the American Revolution, the seventh of eight children of a Baptist minister named John Clay and his wife, Elizabeth Hudson Clay. The family lived in an area of Hanover Country, Virginia. His father died in 1781, when Clay was four years old.

Ten years after his father's death, Clay's mother married Henry Watkins, a resident of Richmond (now the capital of Virginia), who treated his stepchildren kindly and took a special interest in young Henry. The family moved to Richmond, where the fourteen-year-old Clay began working as store clerk. His stepfather felt he was qualified for more challenging work, and secured him a job as a clerk at the High Court of Chancery (a court of law during that period in Virginia). The bright young man came to the attention of George Wythe (1726-1806), chancellor (the top official) of the court, who made Clay his secretary.

A young Kentucky lawyer

Up to this point in his life, Clay had still not acquired much formal education, but Wythe encouraged him to use his library to augment his learning. In 1796 he began to study law under the attorney general of Virginia, Robert Brooke. During this period Clay lived in Brooke's home and had opportunities to meet many prominent people in Virginia politics. He was licensed as a lawyer at age twenty, and in November 1797 he moved to Lexington, Kentucky. At this period Lexington was an important, lively center of activity in the still-young west, and Clay's mother had already moved there.

Clay quickly established himself as the best defense lawyer in Kentucky, specializing in criminal cases. In 1798 he made a very well-received speech against the Alien and Sedition Acts, which Clay and others saw as intended to stifle criticism of the government. A year later, Clay was elected to Kentucky's Constitutional Convention (the meeting at which the state's constitution was written), and he offended some Kentuckians through his unsuccessful attempt to abolish (end) slavery in the state. Clay was himself a slaveholder, but he felt that slavery was wrong and should gradually be eliminated.

Also in 1799 Clay married Lucretia Hart, the daughter of a Kentucky businessman. The couple moved to a six-hundred-acre estate called Ashland where, during the next several decades, they would breed livestock and raise not only crops but a family of eleven children. Tall and slim with an expressive face and warm manner, Clay was gifted at making others feel at ease. Although he was not well-educated, he gained admirers through his personal charm, but he also made some enemies. Clay lived the somewhat rough-and-tumble life of the American frontier: he enjoyed drinking and gambling, and even fought in two duels (in 1809 and 1826).

Beginning a public service career

In 1803 Clay was elected to Kentucky's state legislature, where he established himself as a Democratic Republican like President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). Members of this political party (which eventually became simply the Republican party) believed that government should play a limited role in people's lives, and they tended to support the interests of farmers and plantation owners over merchants and city dwellers. During these years, the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15) in Europe between France and Great Britain (along with its other European allies) had created problems for U.S. trade. As a result, Clay advocated the development of domestic industries.

In 1806 and again in 1810, Clay served two short terms in the U.S. Senate, filling out terms that had been vacated before they expired. He often was involved in heated debates with another senator, Humphrey Marshall (1760-1841), with whom he fought a duel in 1809 (both men were injured but neither was killed). Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1811, Clay settled in to the legislative role he enjoyed more than any other job he had held before or after.

A dedicated Speaker of the House

Soon after his arrival in Congress, Clay was elected Speaker of the House, which was an unusual honor for a first-term representative and proof of his personal charm and persuasiveness. During his long career in politics, Clay would be elected Speaker six times, and he helped to shape this into a position of true leadership rather than a fancy but empty title. He gained respect through his fairness and ability to forge compromises.

The War Hawks are eager for war

Clay soon became the leading member of a group that became known as the War Hawks. These men were mostly young, mostly western and southern legislators who favored war with Great Britain. They claimed that the honor of the United States had been insulted by British actions on the high seas (including trade restrictions and impressment, by which American citizens were forced into the British navy) and that the British also were encouraging Native Americans to attack white settlers in the western part of the United States. The War Hawks hoped to use the war to fulfill expansionist aims (such as possibly acquiring Spanish-held Florida or even British-held Canada). When the Twelfth Congress met in November 1811, the trade and impressment disputes between the United States and Great Britain were at their peak. In addition, the victory of U.S. troops against a Native American force at the Battle of Tippecanoe in early November would help to stir up the prowar spirit.

As Speaker of the House, Clay was able to appoint men who agreed with his views to important committee positions. He also pushed through legislation that would prepare the United States for war (such as an increase in taxes to help finance the war effort). He and the other War Hawks—who included John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) of South Carolina and Clay's fellow Kentuckian, Felix Grundy (1777-1840)—put a lot of pressure on President James Madison, who was not as enthusiastic about the idea of war as they were. While pushing the president along on the path toward war, they also tried to influence public opinion through confident talk; Clay, for example, announced proudly that the Kentucky militia (a military force that is made up of citizens rather than professional soldiers, and called out in times of emergency) alone could carry off a successful invasion of Canada.

In June 1812 Madison delivered a message to Congress in which he recommended war against Great Britain. The tensions between the two countries had finally met a breaking point. The two major issues were Britain's maritime policy of impressment (the act of British officials boarding U.S. ships to capture deserters from the British navy) during its war with France and the friendly relations between the British and the Native Americans. Americans believed that the British were encouraging Native Americans to attack white settlers who were moving west. The Native Americans believed that the settlers were encroaching (gradually taking over) their land. The declaration was passed by a vote that revealed a sizable amount of opposition, especially in the New England states. Many gave the persuasive Clay most of the credit (or the blame, if they disagreed with him) for getting the declaration passed.

Active in war and peace

During the less than two years that the War of 1812 lasted, Clay continued to work in Congress for measures that he thought would help the United States win. He was especially motivated by his belief that Madison was not capable of managing the war well on his own and that the nation needed especially strong leadership from others. Among Clay's efforts was helping to put U.S. troops in the crucial Northwest Territory (what would become the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and parts of Minnesota) under the command of William Henry Harrison (1773-1841; see biographical entry), the governor of Indiana Territory and a skillful military leader. He also took an active role in defending the Madison administration and the war in general against attacks from Federalists (members of the opposition party, who had been opposed to the war from the beginning).

By the end of 1813, Clay felt that the conflict must come to an end soon. The nation was financing the war, which—despite a few impressive victories—had not gone as well as expected. Like other political leaders, Clay was relieved when, in December 1813, the British offered to begin peace negotiations. Madison appointed Clay to serve on the five-member commission that went to Ghent, Belgium, for the talks; the other members were diplomat John Quincy Adams (1767-1848); Federalist senator James Bayard (1767-1815), former secretary of the treasury Albert Gallatin (1761-1849), and Jonathan Russell (1771-1832), the top U.S. diplomat in London.

The representatives from the United States and Great Britain met at Ghent in August 1814, and their discussion continued during the next four months, ending with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on Christmas Eve. The treaty resolved none of the issues that had brought about the war in the first place (for Great Britain had removed its trade restrictions soon after the war began, and impressment was no longer an issue now that Great Britain's war with France was over); rather, it stated that things would remain just as they had been before the conflict began. Nevertheless, most Americans chose to believe that their side had won, for they had taken on the mighty Great Britain and survived.

A distinguished legislator

Except for a short period as a private citizen (1821-23) Clay served in the House of Representatives from 1815 to 1825. During these years, he tried to encourage people in the eastern and western United States to work together to make the U.S. economy stronger. Clay also pushed for protective tariffs, which were duties or fees paid by those importing goods into the United States; he believed that these tariffs would benefit Americans who were producing goods and crops in competition with foreign traders.

Clay's skills as a negotiator were useful in 1819, when Missouri applied to join the union as a slave-holding state. By this time slavery had become a hotly contested issue, with many U.S. citizens (most of them in the northern part of the country) passionately opposed to it and others (most of them in the South, which depended on slave labor to grow cotton and other crops) upholding the rights of states to decide for themselves whether they would allow slavery. Missouri's admission as a slave state would tip the balance toward the slaveholders, since there would be one more slave state than free state, and that prospect ignited a controversy.

The Missouri Compromise

The congressional debate that followed Missouri's application highlighted the growing differences between the various parts of the United States (especially the North and the South), differences that would erupt into violence when the Civil War began four decades later. The initial debate resulted in what came to be known as the Missouri Compromise: Missouri would be admitted as a slave state and Maine as a free state (thus maintaining the balance), while slavery would be prohibited north of the Missouri border. Clay was not responsible for crafting that compromise, but he did resolve a subsequent conflict that came about when Missouri wanted to prohibit free blacks (those who had never been slaves or who had bought or been given their freedom) from entering the states. Clay got the Missouri legislature to agree that it would not restrict the privileges of anyone (black or white) who was a U.S. citizen.

In 1820 and 1822 Clay took time off from public service to attend to his private affairs as a Kentucky farmer and head of a large family. He was re-elected to Congress in 1823 and again elected Speaker of the House. One of four candidates for president in 1824, Clay had the lowest number of votes, so his name was not placed before the House of Representatives (which votes for the president if the Electoral College fails to determine a majority for any candidate).

As a representative, Clay cast his own vote for John Quincy Adams, even though most voters in his state favored Andrew Jackson (1767-1845; see biographical entry), who had been a popular general during the War of 1812. Clay was following his own convictions—he strongly believed that Jackson was simply a military leader and thus not qualified to serve as president—but his vote for Adams angered many Kentuckians. When Adams made Clay his secretary of state (a very important position that often led to the presidency), many suspected that Clay had made an under-the-table bargain with Adams (in other words, Clay had agreed to cast his vote for Adams in exchange for the appointment as secretary of state). Clay denied this, but the accusation continued to follow him throughout the rest of his career. Clay served as secretary of state for the next four years, but it was not a happy period for him. He missed his legislative work, and many of the efforts he led in his new position did not succeed.

Leaving and returning to politics

As the 1828 election approached, Jackson joined with John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) and others opposed to the Adams administration and the Republican Party, to form the Democratic Party. Jackson won the election and, turning down Adams's offer to appoint him to the Supreme Court before he left office, Clay returned to Kentucky. Although he was tempted to settle into the life of a country gentleman, the acclaim he received from people as he toured his home state—added to his opposition to Jackson's policies—convinced him to return to politics.

In 1831 Clay was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he would serve for the next eleven years. He was nominated to run for president in 1832, but Jackson won again by a wide margin. Two years later Clay gained respect for working out a compromise on a tariff issue that had nearly caused South Carolina to nullify (cancel) a federal law, which might have led to the state's seceding (leaving) from the union.

The Whigs' nominee for president

Convinced that the Democratic Party candidate, Martin Van Buren (1782-1862), was unbeatable, Clay did not enter the 1837 presidential election. He became a leading member of the new Whig political party and expected its nomination in the 1840 election. Clay was bitterly disappointed, however, when the Whigs instead nominated William Henry Harrison. Nevertheless, Clay campaigned hard for Harrison, who won the election but died after only one month in office. His successor, John Tyler (1790-1862), opposed most of Clay's ideas, and Clay soon resigned from the Senate.

Clay was again the Whig Party's presidential candidate in 1844, but his shifting position on Texas independence—as he tried to balance the interests of southern and northern voters—cost him the election. The United States entered a war with Mexico when Texas seceded from Mexico and joined the union. Even though Clay opposed the war, he supported the government once it began, and one of his sons died on a Mexican battlefield.

The Compromise of 1850

Clay tried for the Whig nomination in the 1848 presidential election, but it went to Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), a general of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). For the third time in his career, Clay had been passed over in favor of a candidate whose only qualification lay in his military heroism. Despite his disgust over this turn of events, Clay returned to the Senate in 1849, in time to take the lead on a series of compromises—collectively referred to as the Compromise of 1850, the year in which they were passed—that were all related to the slavery issue and that helped to postpone the coming crisis of sectionalism (divided interests and tension between regions of the country). For his role in resolving this crisis, Clay earned the title of "The Great Pacificator" (peacemaker).

As he neared the end of his life, Clay found himself so deeply in debt that he had to consider selling his beloved Ashland. Instead, his supporters around the nation took up a collection for him and raised $50,000, which was enough to cover his debts. After he died in Washington, D.C. (where he was still serving in the Senate) in 1852, Clay's remains were returned to Kentucky, with stops in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, and Cincinnati for mourners to pay their respects. He was buried in a Lexington, Kentucky cemetery.