Difference between revisions of "Henry Clay"

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Henry Clay was born in Hannover County, Virginia in 1777.  He received very little formal education as a youth, but managed to read law under George Wythe and eventually gain admission to both the Virginia and Kentucky bar in 1797 at the age of twenty-two.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s. v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/120696/Henry-Clay Henry Clay]," accessed April 07, 2014.</ref> After gaining admission to the bar, Clay gradually worked to become a well-respected real estate and business lawyer in Frankfort Kentucky.<ref>U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. [http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/clay-henry Biographies of the Secretaries of State: Henry Clay],accessed April 7, 2014.</ref><br />
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|imagename=LifeAndSpeechesOfHenryClay1843Clay.jpg
Clay’s political career began only five years after he gained admission to the bar.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s. v. " Henry Clay.</ref> He was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1803 and served until 1806. In 1806 he was elected to fill the unexpired term of a U.S. senator who had resigned. Clay took the position despite the fact that he was four months younger than the constitutionally required age of thirty.3 He served as Senator from Kentucky until the term expired in 1807, and then returned to the State House of Representatives where he served as Speaker of the House from 1807 to 1809. In 1810 he returned to the Senate where he served until 1811.2
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|name=Henry Clay
Clay served as a U.S. Representative from 1811 to 1825. He was elected to serve as Speaker of the House on his first day in office and held the Speaker position for a majority of the years that he spent in the House of Representatives.3 While he was in the House of Representatives, Clay became a leader of an anti-British group of congressman known as the War Hawks.2 The War Hawks were a group of young congressman who wanted to agitate the public into supporting a war with Great Britain in order to remedy what the War Hawks perceived to be Great Britain’s poor treatment of the United States. Clay’s role as a leader of the War Hawks ultimately contributed to the commencement of the War of 1812.3 Two years after the War of 1812 began, Clay served on the Peace Commission which negotiated the Treaty of Ghent with Great Britain in 1814.1
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|1stoffice=United States Senator from Kentucky
In 1825 after a failed presidential campaign, Clay was appointed Secretary of State under John Quincy Adams.3 He served in that position for four years before being elected to the U.S. Senate where he served from 1831 to 1842 and again from 1849 to 1852.3 Clay earned the moniker “The Great Compromiser” during this period due to his role in crafting three major legislative compromises.3
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|1stofficedates=March 5, 1849 &ndash; June 29, 1852<br />November 10, 1831 &ndash; March 31, 1842<br />January 4, 1810 &ndash; March 4, 1811<br />December 29, 1806 &ndash; March 4, 1807
The Missouri Compromise came about as a result of the tension between whether or not Missouri would be admitted to the union as a slave state or a free state.3 The tension almost brought about a civil war, but Clay worked to broker a compromise where Missouri would be admitted as a slave state but Maine would be admitted as a free state.3
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|2ndoffice=Ninth United States Secretary of State
In 1833 South Carolina passed an ordinance that nullified a federally instituted protective tariff.3 President Jackson threatened to use military troops against South Carolina if they did not enforce the tariff.3 Once again the country was on the brink of a civil war but Clay stepped in and facilitated a compromise where South Carolina would collect the tariff in exchange for the tariffs automatic repeal in seven years.3
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|2ndofficedates=March 4, 1825 &ndash; March 4, 1829
In 1850 Clay was once again called upon to resolve an issue involving slavery.3 The Compromise of 1850 was authored by Clay and was designed to settle how slavery would be dealt with in the territory that was ceded to the United States after the conclusion of the Mexican-American War.3 The Compromise of 1850 was Clay’s third legislative act that likely averted a civil war.3
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|2ndofficepreceded=John Quincy Adams
Clay died in 1852 at age seventy-five.3 His dedication to the maintenance of the union was summed up later by Senator Henry S. Foote of Mississippi who suggested that, “Had there been one such man in the Congress in the United States as Henry Clay in 1860-’61 there would, I feel sure, have been no civil war.”  Clay was admired by those who agreed with him and respected by those who disagreed with him. John C. Calhoun, whom Clay had bested in the Compromise of 1850, once declared, "I don't like Clay. . . . I wouldn't speak to him, but, by God! I love him."
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|2ndofficesucceeded=Martin Van Buren
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|3rdoffice=Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
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|3rdofficedates=March 4, 1823 &ndash; March 4, 1825<br />March 4, 1815 &ndash; October 28, 1820<br />March 4, 1811 &ndash; January 19, 1814
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|borndate=April 12, 1777
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|bornplace=Hanover County, Virginia
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|dieddate=June 29, 1852 (aged 75)
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|diedplace=Washington, D.C.
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|education=Legal amanuensis for [[George Wythe]]
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|almamater=
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|profession=Statesman<br />Lawyer
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|spouse=Lucretia Hart Clay
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|knownfor=The Missouri Compromise<br />The Compromise of 1850
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|signature=
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}}[[wikipedia:Henry Clay|Henry Clay]] (April 12, 1777 &ndash; June 29, 1852) was born in Hannover County, Virginia in 1777.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s. v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/120696/Henry-Clay Henry Clay]," accessed April 07, 2014.</ref> He received little formal education as a youth. When he was sixteen, Clay "began a four-year stint as private secretary to the most learned jurist in the state"<ref>Robert V. Remini, ''Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union'' (New York: W.W. Norton, 1991), 9-10.</ref> of Virginia &ndash; [[George Wythe]]. Clay gained admission to both the Virginia and Kentucky bars in 1797 at the age of twenty-two,<ref>Ibid.</ref> and became a well-respected real estate and business lawyer in Frankfort, Kentucky.<ref>U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian website, s.v. "[http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/clay-henry Biographies of the Secretaries of State: Henry Clay]," accessed April 7, 2014.</ref>
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Clay’s political career began only five years after he gained admission to the bar.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s. v. "Henry Clay."</ref> He was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1803 and served until 1806, when he was elected to fill the unexpired term of a United States senator who had resigned.<ref>United States Senate website, s.v. "[http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/artifact/Painting_32_00007.htm Henry Clay]," accessed April 7, 2014.</ref> Clay took the position despite the fact that he was four months younger than the constitutionally required age of thirty.<ref>Ibid.</ref> He served as senator from Kentucky until the term expired in 1807, and then returned to the State House of Representatives where he served as Speaker of the House from 1807 to 1809. He returned to the Senate in 1810-1811 to fill the vacant seat of Senator Buckner Thruston.<ref>U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian website, s.v. "Biographies of the Secretaries of State: Henry Clay."</ref>
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Clay served as a U.S. Representative from 1811 to 1825. He was elected to serve as Speaker of the House on his first day in office and held the Speaker position for a majority of the years that he spent in the House of Representatives.<ref>United States Senate website, s.v. "Henry Clay."</ref> In the House, Clay became a leader of an anti-British group of congressman known as the War Hawks.<ref>U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian website, s.v. "Biographies of the Secretaries of State: Henry Clay."</ref> Clay’s role as a leader of the War Hawks ultimately contributed to the commencement of the War of 1812.<ref>United States Senate website, s.v. "Henry Clay."</ref> Clay served on the Peace Commission that negotiated the Treaty of Ghent with Great Britain in 1814.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s. v. "Henry Clay."</ref>
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In 1822, in a speech to the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond, regarding the land compacts between Virginia and Kentucky, it was reported that Clay paid tribute to his former employer and mentor, George Wythe:
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It was impossible, he said, to contemplate this Assembly without recollecting that it was here that the indignant and eloquent tongue of Patrick Henry first depicted the enormity and fatal consequences of British pretension, and stimulated the patriotic spirit of resistance; that it was in this very Hall, in that very form (pointing to the Speaker's chair) that the bland, the graceful, the accomplished and the enlightened [[Edmund Pendleton|Pendleton]] presided over one of the most august assemblies that the world ever saw; aided by that illustrious man [Wythe] who, to the stern virtues of Cato united the justice of Aristides &mdash; to whom, he hoped he should be excused, for making this public acknowledgment of his gratitude for his generous patronage of him, extended when he was an orphan, bereft alike of paternal and pecuniary assistance, and to whose memory he begged permission to pay the poor tribute of his highest veneration....<ref>''Enquirer'' (Richmond, VA), 14 February 1822, 3. Cited in [https://books.google.com/books?id=XZwfBgAAQBAJ&pg=161 ''The Papers of Henry Clay,''] ed. James F. Hopkins, vol. 3, ''Presidential Candidate, 1821-1824'' (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2015), 161, 170n.</ref>
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</blockquote>
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In 1825, after a failed presidential campaign, Clay was appointed Secretary of State under John Quincy Adams.<ref>United States Senate website, s.v. "Henry Clay."</ref> He served in that position for four years before being elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served from 1831 to 1842, and again from 1849 to 1852.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Clay earned the moniker "The Great Compromiser" during this period due to his role in crafting three major legislative compromises.<ref>Ibid.</ref>
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The Missouri Compromise came about as a result of the tension between whether or not Missouri would be admitted to the union as a slave state or a free state.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The tension almost brought about a civil war, but Clay worked to broker a compromise where Missouri would be admitted as a slave state, and Maine as a free state.<ref>Ibid.</ref>
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In 1833 South Carolina passed an ordinance that nullified a federally instituted protective tariff.<ref>Ibid.</ref> President Jackson threatened to use military troops against South Carolina if they did not enforce the tariff.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Once again the country was on the brink of civil war, but Clay stepped in and facilitated a compromise where South Carolina would collect the tariff in exchange for the tariffs automatic repeal in seven years.<ref>Ibid.</ref>
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The Compromise of 1850, authored by Clay, was designed to settle how slavery would be dealt with in the territory ceded to the United States after the conclusion of the Mexican-American War.<ref>Ibid.</ref> This was Clay’s third legislative act that likely averted civil war.<ref>Ibid.</ref>
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Clay died in 1852 at age seventy-five.<ref>Ibid.</ref> His dedication to the maintenance of the union was summed up later by Senator Henry S. Foote of Mississippi who suggested that, "Had there been one such man in the Congress in the United States as Henry Clay in 1860-’61 there would, I feel sure, have been no civil war."<ref>Robert Vincent Remini, ''Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union'' (New York: W.W. Norton, 1991), 761-762.</ref> Clay was admired by those who agreed with him, and respected by his opponents. John C. Calhoun, whom Clay had bested in the Compromise of 1850, once declared, "I don't like Clay...I wouldn't speak to him, but, by God! I love him."<ref>Ibid., 578.</ref>
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==See also==
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*[[Henry Clay to B. B. Minor, 3 May 1851]]
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*[[Life and Public Services of Henry Clay]]
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*[[Wythe the Teacher]]
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==References==
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<references/>
 +
 
 +
[[Category:Wythe's Students]]

Latest revision as of 09:51, 31 May 2017

{{{honorific}}}
Henry Clay
LifeAndSpeechesOfHenryClay1843Clay.jpg
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
Preceded by {{{1stofficepreceded}}}
Succeeded by {{{1stofficesucceeded}}}
Ninth United States Secretary of State
In office
March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829
Preceded by John Quincy Adams
Succeeded by Martin Van Buren
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
Preceded by {{{3rdofficepreceded}}}
Succeeded by {{{3rdofficesucceeded}}}
{{{4thoffice}}}
In office
{{{4thofficedates}}}
Preceded by {{{4thofficepreceded}}}
Succeeded by {{{4thofficesucceeded}}}
{{{5thoffice}}}
In office
{{{5thofficedates}}}
Preceded by {{{5thofficepreceded}}}
Succeeded by {{{5thofficesucceeded}}}
{{{6thoffice}}}
In office
{{{6thofficedates}}}
Preceded by {{{6thofficepreceded}}}
Succeeded by {{{6thofficesucceeded}}}
{{{7thoffice}}}
In office
{{{7thofficedates}}}
Preceded by {{{7thofficepreceded}}}
Succeeded by {{{7thofficesucceeded}}}
{{{8thoffice}}}
In office
{{{8thofficedates}}}
Preceded by {{{8thofficepreceded}}}
Succeeded by {{{8thofficesucceeded}}}
Personal details
Born April 12, 1777
  Hanover County, Virginia
Died June 29, 1852 (aged 75)
  Washington, D.C.
Resting place {{{restingplace}}}
Residence(s) {{{residence}}}
Education Legal amanuensis for George Wythe
Alma mater
Profession Statesman
Lawyer
Spouse(s) Lucretia Hart Clay
Relatives {{{relatives}}}
Known for The Missouri Compromise
The Compromise of 1850
Signature [[File:|left|200px]]

Henry Clay (April 12, 1777 – June 29, 1852) was born in Hannover County, Virginia in 1777.[1] He received little formal education as a youth. When he was sixteen, Clay "began a four-year stint as private secretary to the most learned jurist in the state"[2] of Virginia – George Wythe. Clay gained admission to both the Virginia and Kentucky bars in 1797 at the age of twenty-two,[3] and became a well-respected real estate and business lawyer in Frankfort, Kentucky.[4]

Clay’s political career began only five years after he gained admission to the bar.[5] He was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1803 and served until 1806, when he was elected to fill the unexpired term of a United States senator who had resigned.[6] Clay took the position despite the fact that he was four months younger than the constitutionally required age of thirty.[7] He served as senator from Kentucky until the term expired in 1807, and then returned to the State House of Representatives where he served as Speaker of the House from 1807 to 1809. He returned to the Senate in 1810-1811 to fill the vacant seat of Senator Buckner Thruston.[8]

Clay served as a U.S. Representative from 1811 to 1825. He was elected to serve as Speaker of the House on his first day in office and held the Speaker position for a majority of the years that he spent in the House of Representatives.[9] In the House, Clay became a leader of an anti-British group of congressman known as the War Hawks.[10] Clay’s role as a leader of the War Hawks ultimately contributed to the commencement of the War of 1812.[11] Clay served on the Peace Commission that negotiated the Treaty of Ghent with Great Britain in 1814.[12]

In 1822, in a speech to the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond, regarding the land compacts between Virginia and Kentucky, it was reported that Clay paid tribute to his former employer and mentor, George Wythe:

It was impossible, he said, to contemplate this Assembly without recollecting that it was here that the indignant and eloquent tongue of Patrick Henry first depicted the enormity and fatal consequences of British pretension, and stimulated the patriotic spirit of resistance; that it was in this very Hall, in that very form (pointing to the Speaker's chair) that the bland, the graceful, the accomplished and the enlightened Pendleton presided over one of the most august assemblies that the world ever saw; aided by that illustrious man [Wythe] who, to the stern virtues of Cato united the justice of Aristides — to whom, he hoped he should be excused, for making this public acknowledgment of his gratitude for his generous patronage of him, extended when he was an orphan, bereft alike of paternal and pecuniary assistance, and to whose memory he begged permission to pay the poor tribute of his highest veneration....[13]

In 1825, after a failed presidential campaign, Clay was appointed Secretary of State under John Quincy Adams.[14] He served in that position for four years before being elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served from 1831 to 1842, and again from 1849 to 1852.[15] Clay earned the moniker "The Great Compromiser" during this period due to his role in crafting three major legislative compromises.[16]

The Missouri Compromise came about as a result of the tension between whether or not Missouri would be admitted to the union as a slave state or a free state.[17] The tension almost brought about a civil war, but Clay worked to broker a compromise where Missouri would be admitted as a slave state, and Maine as a free state.[18]

In 1833 South Carolina passed an ordinance that nullified a federally instituted protective tariff.[19] President Jackson threatened to use military troops against South Carolina if they did not enforce the tariff.[20] Once again the country was on the brink of civil war, but Clay stepped in and facilitated a compromise where South Carolina would collect the tariff in exchange for the tariffs automatic repeal in seven years.[21]

The Compromise of 1850, authored by Clay, was designed to settle how slavery would be dealt with in the territory ceded to the United States after the conclusion of the Mexican-American War.[22] This was Clay’s third legislative act that likely averted civil war.[23]

Clay died in 1852 at age seventy-five.[24] His dedication to the maintenance of the union was summed up later by Senator Henry S. Foote of Mississippi who suggested that, "Had there been one such man in the Congress in the United States as Henry Clay in 1860-’61 there would, I feel sure, have been no civil war."[25] Clay was admired by those who agreed with him, and respected by his opponents. John C. Calhoun, whom Clay had bested in the Compromise of 1850, once declared, "I don't like Clay...I wouldn't speak to him, but, by God! I love him."[26]

See also

References

  1. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "Henry Clay," accessed April 07, 2014.
  2. Robert V. Remini, Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (New York: W.W. Norton, 1991), 9-10.
  3. Ibid.
  4. U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian website, s.v. "Biographies of the Secretaries of State: Henry Clay," accessed April 7, 2014.
  5. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "Henry Clay."
  6. United States Senate website, s.v. "Henry Clay," accessed April 7, 2014.
  7. Ibid.
  8. U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian website, s.v. "Biographies of the Secretaries of State: Henry Clay."
  9. United States Senate website, s.v. "Henry Clay."
  10. U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian website, s.v. "Biographies of the Secretaries of State: Henry Clay."
  11. United States Senate website, s.v. "Henry Clay."
  12. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "Henry Clay."
  13. Enquirer (Richmond, VA), 14 February 1822, 3. Cited in The Papers of Henry Clay, ed. James F. Hopkins, vol. 3, Presidential Candidate, 1821-1824 (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2015), 161, 170n.
  14. United States Senate website, s.v. "Henry Clay."
  15. Ibid.
  16. Ibid.
  17. Ibid.
  18. Ibid.
  19. Ibid.
  20. Ibid.
  21. Ibid.
  22. Ibid.
  23. Ibid.
  24. Ibid.
  25. Robert Vincent Remini, Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (New York: W.W. Norton, 1991), 761-762.
  26. Ibid., 578.