HENRY CLAY

Hanover County, Virginia
April 12, 1777−June 29, 1852
The Bridge

Henry Clay, an active politician in the first half of the nineteenth century, was one of the people who supported and maintained what the Founding Fathers had built. He moved to Kentucky five years after it became the country’s fifteenth state in 1792, and served as a state representative, U.S. congressman and senator, governor of Kentucky, and United States secretary of state. The experiences he gained in these positions molded Clay into an astute politician capable of dealing with national problems such as the implementation of a new economic system and the slavery issue. Clay was a throwback to the original Founding Fathers. He bridged the gap between the infant and adolescent United States and influenced a new style of political leadership that introduced innovative policies that steered the country into its adult phase. He was a perfect example of the right man in the right place at the right time—for a long time—just as the Founding Fathers had been.

Political Ping-Pong

Henry Clay was elected to the Kentucky state House of Representatives in 1803. Three years later, he was appointed to the U.S. Senate—in violation of the U.S. Constitution, which mandated that senators had to be at least thirty years old. He was twenty-nine years old when he took office. Clay’s stay in the Senate was short. His appointment lasted from November 19, 1806, to March 3, 1807—and he was still not yet thirty when he stepped down.

REVOLUTIONARY REVELATIONS

Henry Clay defended Aaron Burr in 1806 on charges that he was conspiring to separate the western states from the rest of the country. Burr beat the rap. Thomas Jefferson persuaded Clay later that Burr had been guilty. The victory in court turned into a bitter defeat for Clay. When he bumped into Burr in New York nine years later, Clay refused to shake his former client’s hand.

Clay returned to the state assembly for the 1808−09 session, becoming Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives. After Humphrey Marshall objected to Clay’s motion to require members of the Assembly to wear homespun suits instead of British clothing, the two engaged in fisticuffs on the House floor. That led to a three-round duel in which Clay inflicted a slight flesh wound on Marshall’s side during the first round of shots. Both men missed their shots in the second round. In the third and final round, Marshall shot Clay in the thigh. That ended the duel.

Quotations to Live (and Die) By!

“GOVERNMENT IS A TRUST, AND THE OFFICERS OF THE GOVERNMENT ARE TRUSTEES; AND BOTH THE TRUST AND THE TRUSTEES ARE CREATED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PEOPLE.”

—HENRY CLAY

Then, it was back to the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C. to replace Buckner Thruston, whom President James Madison had appointed to a judge’s seat on the United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia. Clay was of legal age this time.

The Revolving Door Keeps Spinning

After completing his second short term as a U.S. Senator, Clay returned to the U.S. House of Representatives until President James Monroe appointed him as one of the commissioners charged with negotiating a peace treaty with Britain to end the War of 1812. And on it went. For the next thirty-seven years Clay made his presence known in every major event in the nation’s evolution.

REVOLUTIONARY REVELATIONS

Henry Clay once filled his own vacant congressional seat. The governor of Kentucky declared Clay’s seat vacant so he could accept a position as envoy to Britain. Once he completed the assignment, he won a special election in 1815 to fill his own vacant seat.

Clay encouraged the United States to go to war with Britain in 1812 to end once and for all the indignities he felt Britain had been inflicting on the United States since 1805, such as the seizure of American merchant vessels and the impressments of their crews.

Clay advocated tariffs on imported goods to help bolster the country’s economy as part of “The American System,” a program he designed to balance the roles of agriculture, commerce, and industry in the nation’s economy. He refereed the Missouri Compromise to settle the slavery impasse, working out an agreement where new states except Missouri above a fixed line between the north and south would be slave free, while those beneath it could retain their slaves. Thus, he contained the spread of slavery, although it remained legal in some states. The compromise was Clay’s signature achievement, although it turned out to be far from a permanent solution to the slavery problem in the United States. Based on his achievements and negotiating skills, Clay was among the first statesmen people turned to when they sought settlements in thorny issues.

Quotations to Live (and Die) By!

“SHOULD ANY OF OUR VESSELS BE HEREAFTER SEIZED AND CONDEMNED, HOWEVER UNJUSTLY, AND THAT ALL WILL BE SEIZED AND CONDEMNED MAY BE CONFIDENTLY EXPECTED, WE MUST BE SILENT, OR BE HEARD BY FOREIGN POWERS IN THE HUMBLE LANGUAGE OF PETITION ONLY.”

—HENRY CLAY IN A LETTER IN SUPPORT OF THE WAR OF 1812

The “Corrupt Bargain”

Clay was not always appreciated by his fellow politicians. One of the low points of his career occurred in 1824, when he ran for president of the United States.

The 1824 presidential election was one of the most confusing campaigns in American history. Four members of the Democratic-Republican party vied for the presidency. They included Clay, Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and William Crawford. None of them earned the victory after the election results were tallied.

Clay finished fourth in the popular and Electoral College voting. He won 13.1 percent of the popular vote and 37 of the 261 electoral votes. Jackson and Adams had the highest number of electoral votes. Clay believed that Adams was more amenable to his policies and would be more helpful to him than Jackson as president—and might even appoint him to his cabinet. He used his influence to sway the House of Representatives, which would settle the issue, to elect Adams. It did, and Clay got his coveted cabinet position.

Adams appointed Clay as secretary of state. He served in that position from 1825−29. Jackson and his followers declared Clay’s action as a “corrupt bargain.” Clay did not see what he did as corruption; it was politics as usual.

Despite the stain on his reputation, he exercised his influence for the rest of his career, which ultimately spanned half a century. His list of accomplishments was significant throughout that time. He was still serving in the U.S. Senate when he died, well over the legally mandated minimum age.