Henry Clay is one of the best known candidates for President of the United States never to have been elected. His skill and style as an eloquent negotiator earned him the title “The great compromiser”.
He was born in Hanover County Virginia in 1777. His father, Baptist minister Reverend Clay, died when Henry was only four years old. In later years Clay would say that he was,” rocked in the cradle of the Revolution”. He remembered a horrifying time when British soldiers invaded his families’ home. According to Clay, the soldiers ran their swords into the new graves of his father and grandfather to see if they contained any hidden valuables. Listening to Clay’s telling of the story one can imagine a terrified littler boy grabbing his mother’s dress as he watched the soldiers ransack the house.
When remembering his childhood Clay recalled a life of poverty following the death of his father. However, As biographer Robert V. Remini explained, records show that young Henry inherited two slaves from his father and one from his maternal grandfather. How many poor boys owned slaves?
When Clay was 14 his mother wanted the family to move to Kentucky, but his stepfather, Captain Henry Watkins, decided it would be best if Henry stayed and worked in Richmond. Captain Watkins arranged for Clay to work as a clerk at the High Court Chancery in Richmond. Henry Clay soon advanced to the position of secretary for George Wythe. Professor Wythe had taught law at The College of William and Mary and one of his students had been Thomas Jefferson. In 1779 a grateful Jefferson recommended that Wythe be awarded the first chair of law at William and Mary. Among the scholars educated by Wythe were James Marshall, and James Monroe. Wythe encouraged Clay to study law and in 1796 recommended that he continue his studies with Robert Burke, Virginia’s Attorney General.
In addition to his studies with George Wythe, Clay had became highly interested in the local debating society where, according to biographer Merrill D. Peterson, he listened to the oratory of such great men as Patrick Henry.
After passing the Virginia bar in November of 1797 Clay moved to Kentucky. Four months later he passed the Kentucky bar and opened his practice in Lexington, where his older brother was an established merchant. Another good reason for Clay to move to Kentucky was the numerous property disputes. Early Settlers in the Virginia territory of Kentucky often made claims to the same piece of land. There would be no shortage of work for lawyers in the state of Kentucky.
When Clay first arrived in Lexington he had become an active member in the local Masonic Order, and that put him in contact with some of the most powerful and influential people in Kentucky.
In 1799 he married Lucretia Hart, the youngest daughter of Colonel Thomas Hart. Colonel Hart had made early investments in Kentucky and owned thousands of acres of land in addition to successful manufacturing and retail investments. After their wedding Henry and Lucretia moved to a house they had purchased from her father. Later they moved to the Ashland estate.
One of things about farming that Clay enjoyed was raising and breeding high quality cattle. He also made extra income by renting out property that he had received as payment for his legal services. Lucretia was a good businesswoman and handled the day to day business of the Ashland estate. She also had to tolerate her husband’s love of good whiskey, cigars, rough language, and gambling.
Clay was elected to state legislature in 1803. His fellow Republican, Felix Grundy, was on the opposite sides when it came to economic policy in the emerging western state. The dispute was over the Kentucky Insurance Company. It had the exclusive right to insure all cargo on Kentucky’s rivers. Since it had been authorized to issue negotiable bank notes backed by its capital it changed itself into the Bank of Lexington, and was the states largest bank. Grundy argued that the Kentucky Insurance Company, now Bank of Lexington, was a monopoly for the privileged rich and wanted to cancel its state charter. Clay argued that repealing the charter of the state’s biggest and most economically stable business would discourage any future investors. Clay’s side won in the legislature by one vote. But Grundy fought back. Grundy was able to convince the legislators to pass his bill calling for the repeal the charter of the Bank of Lexington. The bill was vetoed by the Governor but was overridden by the House. While the state senate was considering the veto Clay introduced a bill calling for payment on Green River land. In what was known as “The Green River Band” settlers and speculators had made arrangements with certain members of the legislature and had been able to avoid making any payments on their property. The Green River investors were Grundy’s main supporters, and in order to avoid their economic ruin Grundy lobbied to sustain the veto in exchange for Clay dropping the demand for immediate payments on the Green River property. In addition to saving the Bank of Lexington Henry Clay may have saved himself some money, due to the fact that he had purchased stock in the bank when it was founded.
By 1805 Clay was elected professor of law and politics at Kentucky’s Transylvania University. Clay served as a trustee for the University from from “1807 to 1813 and from 1818 to 1830”.
When former Vice President Aaron Burr traveled west, with plans to establish a colony, he was invited to be a guest at the home of Congressman Andrew Jackson in Tennessee. Burr was highly praised and given a warm welcome by the local citizens despite his unfortunate killing of Alexander Hamilton in the now infamous duel. During their meeting Jackson and Burr discussed the possibility of a war with Spain. In 1806, when information about the proposed colony led to Burr’s arrest, it would be Andrew Jackson’s future political nemesis who would serve as Burr’s defense council. Aaron Burr had been accused of treason and was brought before the Grand Jury at Frankfort Kentucky. The prosecution claimed that Burr had conspired to commit acts of treason against the the United States. Clay argued that the prosecution’s evidence was based on “rumor, conjecture, and gossip”. The Grand Jury agreed with Clay and the indictment was dropped. Later, Burr would be tried for treason near Washington D.C. but he was not convicted.
Andrew Jackson had agreed to have boats built for Burr and his settlers. It was fortunate for him that he was never implicated in any of Burr’s indictments or trial.
During the arraignment Clay had been elected to the US Senate to fill a vacancy. In 1807 he returned to the state legislature. In 1808 he was elected to the House of Representatives and became the first freshman to ever be elected Speaker of the House. In 1810 he served another short term in the Senate, again filling a vacancy, but he preferred the House . He was re-elected Speaker and served until 1824.
News of the British forcibly taking men off of American ships and making them serve in His Majesty’s Navy made many Americans eager for a war. However, for many New England merchants, trade with Great Britain was a major source of income. Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and the others who called for a war against the British became known as The War Hawks.
Those who opposed the war questioned the motives of the War Hawks. Was America fighting for its rights on the high seas, or was the conquest of Canada really the main objective?
The war was not going well for the new nation. The Americans had failed to defeat the British in Canada, the government was going into debt and the American people, already financially stressed, would have to pay more taxes. Oliver H. Perry and William H. Harrison had won battles in the West but the East coast continued to be blockaded. To make matters worse, after Napoleon’s defeat at Moscow it became obvious that the British would win the war in Europe and would soon have an adequate number of troops to send to America.
Madison had been urged to give more military authority to the very apt military commander Colonel Andrew Jackson, but he refused because of Jackson’s association with Aaron Burr. Clay had been urging the President to appoint General William Henry Harrison supreme military commander.
On January 6th 1814 President Madison announced plans to negotiate a peace treaty with the British. The meeting would take place in Ghent Belgium. Clay was appointed to be one of the representatives. The American delegation had to wait six weeks for the British representatives to arrive.
Clay, and his fellow diplomat John Q. Adams, disagreed over navigation rights on the Mississippi River. Adam’s was willing to grant navigation right in exchange for fishing rights on the North Atlantic coast. Clay was opposed to any British navigation rights on the Mississippi. Clay and Adams often disagreed and when their tempers got out of control fellow diplomat, and Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin would step in to calm them down.
One of the main issues was the British proposal to create a native territory between the United States and Canada. The Americans opposed this idea because many United States citizens had already settled in that area. Both sides came to a final agreement when Secretary of State James Monroe proposed that the two nations return to the recognized national boundaries that had existed before the war. John Quincy Adams observed, “All we gained was peace”.
One result of the War of 1812 that Clay did not plan on was Andrew Jackson becoming a war hero. Would there have been a President Jackson if not for the Battle of New Orleans?
By 1820 the nation had become clearly divided between those states that recognized slaves as legal property and those states that had abolished and outlawed slavery. Fearing that the slave states would gain too much power in the Senate the North opposed admitting Missouri as a state. Clay was able to persuade his colleagues to agree that Missouri could give it’s citizens the right to own slaves and become a state if it was agreed that in the future there would be no slavery north of 36 degrees latitude. The votes in the Senate would remain balanced by admitting the Massachusetts territory of Maine as a free State.
Some of Clay’s biographers have emphasized his ideas on gradual emancipation of the slaves and his proposed legislation outlawing slavery in Kentucky. He was a member of The American Colonization Society. Other prominent supporters of the Society were Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster, William Crawford, John Randolph, and Francis Scott Key. By 1816 Slave owners had gained control of the Society, but their plan was not to pave the way for emancipation but rather to rid the nation of the free Blacks. Henry Clay presided at the first meeting and said, “Of all the classes of our own population the most vicious is that of the free Colored.” Clay may have been against slavery but as it appears he was not in favor of Blacks living in America. It must be remembered that many abolitionist who favored the ending of slavery did so not because of sympathy for Blacks doing forced labor, but rather as a way of getting rid of what they saw as a growing and potentially dangerous Black population.
In 1824 Clay built the platform from which he would launch his national political career. He made a passionate speech calling for federal revenue to pay for the building of roads and other necessary infrastructure, tariffs to protect American industry, and a strong national bank. Clay called it, “The American System”. Presidents Madison and Monroe had opposed using Federal government money on public works projects and questioned the constitutional legality of such an idea. For example, President Monroe had vetoed legislation that would have paid for repairs on the Cumberland road. Clay would argue that the “American System” was constitutional. If the government had the power to regulate commerce then the government had the right to build and maintain roads for the transportation of that commerce. But others would argue that the roads and canals were used primarily by private businesses and therefore should be paid for as part of their business expense. Was the “American System” a plan to provide for the general welfare, as called for in the Constitution, or a plan to make the taxpayers subsidize the business community?
President Monroe faced practically no serious opposition when he ran for President in 1816 and won all but one electoral vote when he ran for reelection in 1820, but by 1824 the “Era of good feelings” was coming to an end. Five candidates were seeking the office of President and no one had a clear majority. John Adams had been secretary of state, as were his predecessors Monroe and Madison, and he was the son of Revolutionary War leader and President John Adams. Andrew Jackson was representing a populist political movement and had gained national fame for his victory at New Orleans. William Crawford had served as Secretary of treasury under Madison and Monroe and during his term he was in charge of overseeing internal improvements including the construction of the Cumberland road. John C. Calhoun was a strong advocate of states rights. Henry Clay was Speaker of the House and was advocating his “American System”. By this time the Federalist Party had ceased to exist.
John C. Calhoun dropped out of the race for the presidency and instead ran unopposed for Vice President. No one candidate had enough electoral votes to win the election. Jackson received 99, Adams 84, Crawford 41, and Clay had 37. The final choice of Jackson or Adams was turned over to the House of Representatives. The Kentucky state legislature had sent a letter to Clay asking him to vote for Jackson. But Clay had a personal mistrust of the General and didn’t believe him to be qualified for the presidency. When Clay announced that he was for John Quincy Adams that was enough to guarantee all the votes in the House that Adams would need.
A newspaper in New jersey reported that Adams had offered the office of Secretary of state to Henry Clay prior to the vote in the House. Andrew Jackson declared that there was “A corrupt bargain” and claimed that Clay and Adams had conspired to keep him out of the White House. Although there was never any actual proof that Clay voted for Adams in exchange for being Secretary of State the accusation stuck and was a black mark on his political career for the rest of his life.
Even if Adams had offered Clay a cabinet post was that wrong? If two opposing candidates pool their sources to defeat a third candidate is that necessarily undemocratic?
During his term as Secretary of State Clay was able to negotiate many commercial treaties. He was disappointed when due to lack of funding by the Congress he was unable to attend the Inter-American Congress at Panama in 1826. The purpose of the Congress was to create a uniform policy among nations in the Caribbean.
The administration of John Quincy Adams was under constant attack from Senator John Randolph of Virginia, and these attacks included Henry Clay. During a Senate investigation of the “Congress in Panama”, and role of Secretary Clay, Randolph referred to Clay as, “a rotting mackerel by moonlight, shines and stinks and stinks and shines.” When no other senator called Randolph to order and when the President of the Senate, John C. Calhoun, said nothing, Clay rose up in his own defense and challenged Randolph to a duel.
The Randolph Clay duel was held in Virginia. The first time both men fired and missed. The second time Clay’s bullet ripped a hole in Randolph’s coat near the hip. Randolph responded by firing into the air. Randolph then marched towards Clay with his hand ready for a handshake and said, “You owe me a coat Mr. Clay”. Clay immediately shook Randolph’s hand and said, “I am glad the debt is no greater”.
The election of 1828 was a rematch between Adams and Jackson. Adams had been nominated in the traditional way by the states’ legislatures and Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin Rush was nominated to be Vice President. The Tennessee legislature nominated Jackson, but Jackson’s followers wanted more popular participation in the election. Old Hickory received endorsements from conventions and mass meetings across the country. The incumbent Vice President, John C. Calhoun became Jackson’s candidate for Vice President.
Senator Clay and Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts had been on opposite sides during the War of 1812 but they both agreed when it came to stopping the election of Andrew Jackson. One willing supporter was Charles Hammond of the Cincinnati Gazette. Hammond showed no mercy. He claimed that Jackson’s mother was a “common prostitute” and that his real father was a Mulatto. Jackson went into a rage when he heard the reports and immediately suspected Clay as being the culprit behind the lies.
The Democrats retaliated with their own low level tactics. When John Q. Adams was minister to Russia he had introduced a young American woman to the Czar. His political enemies accused Adams of serving as a pimp.
After the election Clay’s opinion of Jackson didn’t improve when he learned that enthusiastic followers of Old Hickory had damaged White House property celebrating their hero’s inauguration.
In 1831 Clay was elected to the US Senate. By 1832 he was the leading candidate to run against Andrew Jackson. It was to be the first year that candidates would be nominated at national party conventions. The Democrats met in Baltimore and nominated Andrew Jackson for reelection, and nominated Secretary of State Martin Van Buren for Vice President. The National Republicans also met in Baltimore and nominated Henry Clay. Clays candidate for Vice President was Pennsylvania’s Representative to the US House, John Sergeant.
Representative Sergeant had been elected to the House as a Federalist in 1815 and had served as chairman of the judiciary committee during the sixteenth and seventeenth congresses. He also served as president of the Pennsylvania Board of Canal Commissioners in 1825.
Neither the Democrats nor the National Republicans can claim to have held the first national convention. That honor goes to the Anti-Masonic party. They met in Baltimore, declared their opposition to secret societies, and nominated Former Attorney General William Wirt of Maryland for President of the United States.
A speech at the National Republican convention praised their nominee as an “ardent, fearless, and consistent friend of liberty, and republican institutions”. Clay’s “American system” was lauded for its support of necessary internal improvement for our nation. The speech condemned President Jackson and his policies towards American Indians, his attacks on the Bank of the United States, his misuse of tariffs, and his disregard of necessary internal improvements. The Democrats warned voters that Henry Clay was a representative of the “moneyed aristocracy”.
Political cartoons became the weapon of choice for the supporters of Henry Clay. Andrew Jackson was pictured being crowned King by Martin Van Buren, making a Don Quixote attack on the Bank of the United States, and riding a mule while struggling to catch up with Clay’s horse. Jackson’s supporters took advantage of the fact that many states had changed their laws making it possible for more men to vote. Jackson’s campaigners “organized torch light parades, barbecues, and glee clubs and urged voter to “stand by the hero””.
The major issue was The Bank of the United States. Clay defended it and Jackson opposed it. Jackson argued that “the Bank enjoyed exclusive privileges which gave it a monopoly of foreign and domestic exchange”, and believed it gave an unfair advantage to America’s wealthier citizens. Clay called the Bank, “this great and beneficial institution” and called it the economies “life blood”. Despite the fact that the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of the Bank in McCulloch Vs. Maryland Clay was unable to convince enough voters that the Bank was vital to America’s economy.
Jackson was re-elected with 54% of the popular vote to Clays 37%. Clay carried three New England States, his home state, North Carolina, Delaware, and Maryland for a total of 49 electoral vote. Jackson easily won with 219 electoral votes.
South Carolina did not go for either Clay or Jackson and was threatening to disobey federal law when it came to the tariff issue. Former vice President, now Senator, John C. Calhoun claimed that the states had the right to nullify, or make null and void, federal laws within their territory. President Jackson ordered General Winfield Scott to prepare for military action against South Carolina if it failed to obey the Federal law. Henry Clay defused the conflict when he sponsored a compromise tariff. South Carolina agreed to the tariff proposed by Clay and the “Nullification Crises” ended.
During the nullification debates Clay’s compromise tariff had been challenged by Daniel Webster . “Webster described Calhoun as struggling in a bog” and claimed, “anyone coming to his relief would share in his embarrassment.”
What was President Andrew Jackson’s opinion of the two Senators who agreed to the compromise that ended the “nullification crises”? In his final days Jackson would say, “My only regret was that I did not shoot John C. Calhoun and hang Henry Clay“.
On April 14th 1834 Clay made a speech and reminded his listeners that during the American revolution the Tories were loyal to the King, but the Whigs “stood foursquare for freedom and independence”. He referred to those who opposed the growing executive powers of President Jackson as, “The Whigs of the present day”. The name probably originated in New York City, or possibly the Salem Gazette in Massachusetts. It soon became the new name for the party that would oppose Jackson in 1836.
After two terms President Jackson urged the Democrats to hold a convention and select a new candidate for President. The delegates knew that Martin Van Buren was Jackson’s choice. The Whigs were growing in strength as different anti-Jackson organizations pooled their resources. However, “the Whigs were too loosely united to hold a national convention.” Favorite son candidates were nominated in different parts of the nation. When Clay realized that he could not build a solid nation wide constituency he dropped out of the race. The leading Whig candidates were Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, Senator Hugh White of Tennessee, and General William Henry Harrison. The Whig nominee would be military hero, and former territorial governor of Ohio, William Henry Harrison.
During the election John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster formed “the triumvirate”. When Vice President Martin Van Buren was performing his duties as President of the Senate the three senators would do what ever they could to embarrass or harass the Democrat’s candidate for President.
Unfortunately for the Whigs their party disorganization left Webster and White as candidates on many local ballots. Harrison had just over 36% of the popular vote and Van Buren had just over 50%. The other candidates had the rest. In the electoral college Van Buren was the clear winner, with 170 votes. Harrison received 73 votes.
During the administration of President Van Buren Clay became a leader of the Senate opposition. Clay claimed that the bills proposed by the President would take money away from the states that could use it and give the funds to states that did not need it. But Clay had lost too much support in the Senate. One reason was his alliance with John C. Calhoun had come to an end. Calhoun learned to like the policies of President Van Buren and believed they would lead to an independent treasury for the federal government.
When the Whigs met in Harrisburg Pennsylvania Clay’s candidacy was in trouble. In 1839 Clay made a speech in the Senate denouncing the abolitionist. Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania (he would lead the fight to impeach President Johnson in 1865) convinced his delegation not to support Clay. That cost Clay too many votes from the delegates representing the Northern states. Harrison was nominated again and his running mate would be John Tyler of Virginia. Clay agreed to support the party’s nominee, but private letters indicated that he believed the delegates at the Harrisburg convention failed to obey the will of the public when they failed to nominate him.
Harrison was born on a plantation, was college educated, and lived on a large farm in Ohio, but that didn’t stop his campaign staff from making him a new image of living in a log cabin and drinking hard cider. Harrison won with 52% of the popular vote to Van Buren's 46.8%. In the electoral college Harrison easily won with 234 votes to Van Buren’s 60.
President Harrison became ill shortly after his inauguration. When Clay realized the nation was facing an economic crises he urged the President to call Congress into session. Harrison agreed and a special session of Congress convened in order to stop the governments growing insolvency. It would be Harrison’s last official act as President.
John Tyler, a states rights advocate who cooperated with the Whigs when he was in the Virginia state legislature, became the President of the United States. Tyler had been a member of Jackson’s Democratic party, but he quit when he sided with John C. Calhoun during the “Nullification crises” . Henry Clay was struggling to regain his role as leader of the Whig party. He led the way for legislation to establish a new Bank of the United States, higher tariffs, and distribution of federal land revenues to the states. When President Tyler vetoed the Whig legislation the Whigs in Congress declared that Tyler was no longer welcome in their party. All of the cabinet resigned except for Secretary of State Daniel Webster. He stayed until he finished negotiating a border between Maine and Canada in what came to be known as the Webster-Ashburn treaty of 1842. He was later replaced by John C. Calhoun.
On February 16th 1842 Henry Clay wrote a letter of resignation to the Kentucky Legislature and announced his retirement from the Senate.
While reassessing his own political career Clay observed that Martin Van Buren was emerging as a possible candidate for the 1844 election. Clay invited the former President to be his guest at Ashland. The two men agreed that they did not like President Tyler. Likewise, it was well known that President Tyler had very little respect for Henry Clay.
Clay’s official resignation from the Senate took place on March 31st. He gave an emotional speech about his long career and devotion to public service. It brought tears to the eyes of some his fellow Congressmen and Senators. Even John C. Calhoun stopped to give Clay a fond farewell and a friendly embrace.
The victory of the Texas rebels over Mexican dictator Santa Anna had a major impact on American politics. The South had been arguing that the territory of Texas was really an original part of the Louisiana Purchase. When Texas declared itself to be an independent republic, Southern members of Congress were eager to make it a new state. But the North was opposed to admitting a new slave state. The candidates for president were trying to avoid the issue of Texas, but that became impossible when President Tyler, with the aid of Secretary of State John C. Calhoun, submitted the Treaty of Annexation to the Senate. Clay tried to assume his role of mediator, but his failure to take a clear stand on whether or not to admit Texas would be a fatal political mistake.
By May 1st 1844 the other Whig candidates had failed to amass any substantial challenge to Clay and he was nominated by acclamation at their Baltimore convention. There were other issues, all very important to candidate Clay, but Texas was the biggest. The Whig candidate for Vice President would be New Jersey’s former Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen.
In 1833 when President Jackson sought to remove the Cherokee from Georgia, senators Frelinghuysen, Clay, and Webster, had defended the Cherokee’s right to remain in their homeland. Chief Justice Marshall had ruled in favor of Cherokee sovereignty in 1832, but by 1838 it became obvious that the supreme court would not rule in the Cherokee’s favor. Frelinghuysen urged to Cherokee chiefs to sign the treaty proposed by President Jackson. The result was the tragic “Trail of Tears”.
When the Democrats met in Baltimore they had already rejected former President Martin Van Buren, due mostly to his opposition to Texas statehood. After eight ballots and various backroom negotiations the Democrats nominated James K. Polk of Tennessee. Polk took a strong stand in favor of admitting Texas. The Democrats’ nominee for Vice President would be George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania, the former minister to Russia.
Now that voting was more accessible for the common man, and not restricted to land owners, name recognition became an important part of the campaign. James K. Polk had served as governor of Tennessee and as Speaker of the US House of Representatives, but he did not have the national name recognition of Henry Clay. One campaign gimmick the Whigs used was Clay pipes. A Clay pipe was a clay pipe with the image of Henry Clay carved on the bowl.
The Democrats attacked Clay as immoral and unfit for the office of President of the United States. “They announced that the Whig candidate had systematically violated, sin by sin, every one of the Ten Commandments”. A pamphlet was distributed titled, “Twenty-one Reasons Why Clay Should Not Be Elected”. Christian men were asked to review Clay’s moral character before casting their votes. It was impossible for the Whigs to counter attack James K. Polk on the issue of moral character. The Whigs only option was to emphasize Clay’s superior qualifications and national experience.
With the growing number of anti-slavery voters in the North, the Whigs emphasized Polk’s purchase of a large plantation in Mississippi and all of its slaves. Polk was accused of not only being a slave owner but a slave trader. But Clay was having his own problems with the slavery issue. Anti-slavery candidate James G. Birney of The Liberty Party, founded in 1840, was attracting too many voters who should have been voting for Clay.
The Whigs presented Clay as the “Abolitionist candidate of the North”, and reminded voters that Clay was opposed to the annexation of Texas. But Clay also had to attract voters in the South and began to make campaign speeches favorable to the annexation of Texas. When Clay’s campaign managers in the North warned him that his pro Texas statements were costing him votes he quickly reversed himself and announced that he was “decidedly opposed” to admitting Texas into the United States. Where did candidate Clay truly stand on the issue of Texas?
Clay and Polk almost tied when it came to the popular vote with each one receiving about 48%. James G. Birney received just over 2%. In the electoral college Polk was the definite winner with 170 votes. Clay carried some border states, three states in New England, New Jersey, and three states in the west. Polk had 170 electoral votes and Caly had 105.
This story appeared in Paul F. Boller’s Presidential Campaigns. A bride and groom in Kentucky changed their wedding trip from Washington to New Orleans when they heard that Henry Clay had not been elected. During the trip the groom became ill and had to see a doctor. When the doctor inquired as to the cause of the illness the groom mentioned Clay’s defeat. The Doctor fell into the arms of his patient and the two men wept together.
Clay’s family life at home was not always a happy one. His oldest son suffered from “uncontrollable emotional outburst” and spend most of his adult life in an asylum for the mentally Ill. By 1825 two of Clays daughters had died as infants, and three died before the age of 17. Their daughter Anne died in 1835 at the age of 28. Clay also suffered the shame of having one of his sons arrested for non payment of debt. In 1845 Clay had to seek financial help from his friends to pay his own debts.
When the border dispute between Texas and Mexico became a war Henry Clay Jr. joined the Kentucky volunteers as a Lt. Colonel. His father, who had hoped that the United States and Mexico would settle their differences peacefully, gave him a fatherly hug and presented him with a set of pistols. In 1847 Henry Clay Jr. was killed in action at the battle of Buena Vista.
In 1848 the Whigs held their convention in Philadelphia. Clay’s name was placed in nomination, but many of the delegates wanted a new candidate. General Zachary Taylor never held an elective office and had never voted in an election. It was also suspected that he knew very little when it came to important national issues. The experienced politician, Henry Clay, would have to step aside as the nomination was given to a war hero.
The main issue was slavery in the new territories. The Democrat’s nominee, Lewis Cass, supported the doctrine of popular sovereignty and wanted to let the local voters decide whether or not they wanted slavery. Clay had written a letter to Horace Greeley explaining why he had lost the nomination. He thought that his residency in a slave state may have cost him support in the North, but their failure to support him had given the nomination to some one “far more deeply imbued with the doctrines of slavery than ever I was or shall be”.
Zachary Taylor and his running mate, New York Comptroller Millard Fillmore, won with about 47% of the vote. Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan and his running mate, 1812 war veteran General William O Butler, had less than 43%. Free Soil candidate Martin Van Buren’s 10% of the vote may have taken enough votes away from Cass to make Taylor the President. Taylor had 163 electoral votes and Cass had 127.
In 1849 Clay was again elected to the Senate. By 1850 the slavery issue of the 1848 campaign had not been resolved. Senator Clay introduced resolutions: California would be admitted as a free state, no restriction on slavery in the balance of territory acquired from Mexico, the US would assume all debts acquired by Texas before annexation, and slave trading could not take place in the District of Columbia. He also called for stronger laws to ensure the return of fugitive slaves to their owners. There was a great debate in the Senate and it would be a final meeting of Senators Clay, Webster, and Calhoun.
President Taylor had opposed the provisions for territorial organization in New Mexico and Utah which was a very important part of the compromise package. When Millard Fillmore suddenly became President he let it be known that he favored the compromise. California was admitted as a free state. The 37th parallel divided the territories of New Mexico and Utah, Texas received ten million dollars in payment for land ceded to the New Mexico territory, and Popular sovereignty would decide if any new state formed in the territories would be slave or free.
Amendments to the fugitive slave act placed all cases dealing with fugitive slaves under the jurisdiction of the federal government . The new law gave the federal commissioners the authority to seek and capture anyone suspected of being a runaway slave. Any State law enforcement official who refused to aid in the capture of a runaway slave could be fined $1000. If a law enforcement official aided in the escape of a slave he could be sued for the value of the lost property. The new federal law forbid states from granting freedom to runaways.
Why didn’t a state have the right to decide who should be free according to local laws? Didn’t the South believe in states rights?
According to the story, Clay said something which has been referenced in Bartlett’s Quotations and parodied many times over the years by professional and amateur comics. Clay was asked if his compromises may have cost him the election. Henry Clay responded, “I’d rather be right than President”. In his biography written for, The Illustrated History of the Hall of Fame, his quote was called “immortal” and certainly left the impression that Clay had done the honorable thing in sticking to his principles. In the book They also Ran, published in 1952, Clay’s famous statement was called sour grapes. The biography written for Henry Clay’s Ashland Estate didn’t even bother to mention it. Was he truly a man who said what he meant when he thought he was right, or was “I’d rather be right than President” simply an excuse made by a disappointed loser?
Clay returned by train to Lexington. He was greeted by well wishers before being escorted to the Phoenix Hotel. He told the crowd “that his belief in the Union had been saved by the compromise”. At his Ashland estate he received many visits from friends and admirers thanking him for his contribution to public service. He was invited to public meeting and barbecues where he was asked to make speeches or comment on current political issues. Clay enjoyed the fact that the public barbecues were often attended by both Whigs and Democrats.
Clay returned to Washington D.C. two weeks after the opening of the 31st congress in 1851. He was not feeling well and blamed his condition on a very bad cold. When he felt better he was invited to Washington’s high society dinner parties and theatrical events. When it came to his work in the Senate clay worried that extremist in the North and South would undo the mutual agreements that were holding the union together.
In March Clay decided to take a relaxing vacation and traveled to Cuba. He then went to New Orleans and then home to his Ashland estate. When he was at his home he wrote his last will and testament. One of the provisions of his will was for his slaves, born after January 1st 1850, “to be freed at age 28, if male, and at age 25 if female. They would then be bound as apprentices to learn a useful trade before their removal to Africa”.
Henry Clay returned to the Senate in November of 1851, but he certainly wasn’t the vigorous active speaker that his colleagues remembered. On December 1st he gave his final speech in the Senate and 15 days later he resigned. He spend his final days at the National Hotel in Washington D.C. and died from tuberculosis on June 29th 1852.
When news reached Springfield Illinois that Henry Clay had died a meeting was called at the statehouse. Abraham Lincoln gave a eulogy. He recalled the life and times of Henry Clay. Lincoln asked, “Our country is prosperous and powerful; but could it have been quite all it has been, and is, and is to be, without Henry Clay?” Half a century later Henry Clay would be elected to America’s Hall of fame, located at University Heights on the campus of New York University. The candidates had been selected by 100 judges, made up of “Presidents of Universities, scholars in American History, men of science, and editors and authors”. Also included was former President of the United States Grover Cleveland, and future Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. In 1957 a Senate committee, headed by John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, named Henry Clay the greatest senator in our nation’s history. In 1996 Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, in a speech honoring Henry Clay, gave the Great Compromiser credit for postponing the Civil War. Had it started earlier the results may have been quite different. She said, “Henry Clay acted for posterity’s sake. And for that, I am grateful.”
The memory of Henry Clay’s contribution to the the outcome of American History outshines many of contemporaries, including those who served as President. But was he only a man of his times or did he leave behind a lasting legacy?
References
Robert V. Remini. Henry Clay Statesman for the Union. WW Norton & Company, New York, 1991
Merrill D. Peterson. The Great Triumvirate. Oxford University Press, New York, 1987
Click
on Books
