Henry Clay

Henry Clay (April 12, 1777 in Hanover County, Virginia – June 29, 1852 in Washington, D.C.) was an American statesman and orator who served in both the House of Representatives and Senate. He also made five failed bids for the presidency, but was nevertheless extremely influential in U.S. politics.

Biography

Early career

As a young man, Clay apprenticed himself in the Richmond, Virginia office of reknown jurist George Wythe -- George Wythe had been appointed the nation's first Law Professor at the College of William and Mary at the behest of Thomas Jefferson (also a former student). After Clay's admission to the bar in 1797, he relocated to Lexington, Kentucky, where he developed his own law practice. He quickly earned both a reputation for brilliance and a lucrative income.

Related Topics:
Richmond, Virginia - George Wythe - College of William and Mary - Thomas Jefferson - 1797 - Lexington, Kentucky

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In 1799, at the age of twenty-two, he was elected to a constitutional convention in Kentucky; at twenty-six, to Kentucky's state legislature; and at twenty-nine—despite being under the 30-year minimum age required by the United States Constitution—he was appointed to fill a vacant unexpired term (1806–1807) in the United States Senate. Contrary to customs of seniority, he plunged into the business of Congress as though he had been there all his life. After leaving, he again served in the Kentucky legislature (1808–1809), and was chosen Speaker of its lower house. There he achieved distinction by defeating an intense and widespread anti-British reform campaign, which sought to exclude the common law from the Kentucky code. A year later, he was elected to another unexpired term in the United States Senate, serving 1810–1811.

Related Topics:
1799 - Kentucky - Legislature - United States Constitution - 1806 - 1807 - 1808 - 1809 - Common law - United States Senate - 1810 - 1811

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Congress

In 1811, at the age of thirty-four, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives and was chosen Speaker of the House on the first day of the session. One of the chief sources of his popularity was his activity in Congress as one of the "War Hawks," promoting the war with the United Kingdom in 1812. Later, as one of the peace commissioners, he reluctantly signed the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814.

Related Topics:
Speaker of the House - War Hawk - United Kingdom - 1812 - Treaty of Ghent - December 24 - 1814

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During the fourteen years following his first election, he was re-elected five times to the House and to the speakership; retiring for one term (1821–1823) to resume his law practice and retrieve his fortune. He served as Speaker in 1811–1814, in 1815–1820 and in 1823–1825. One time he was unanimously elected by his constituents, and another nearly defeated for having at the previous session voted to increase congressional salaries.

Related Topics:
1821 - 1823 - 1815 - 1820 - 1825

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From 1825 to 1829, he served as Secretary of State in President John Quincy Adams's Cabinet. Many believed, and still believe, that Clay's appointment to the State Department was won through a corrupt bargain between Clay and John Q. Adams. Because Clay conceded the race and asked his delegates in the House of Representatives to transfer their support to Adams instead, therefore the public had reason to suspect the two candidates of concocting a secret deal. Clay's term as Secretary of State ended when Adams lost his reelection bid to Andrew Jackson. In 1831 Kentucky returned Clay to the United States Senate, where he served until 1842, and again from 1849 until his death.

Related Topics:
1825 - 1829 - Secretary of State - President - John Quincy Adams's - Cabinet - 1831 - United States Senate - 1842 - 1849

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In foreign policy, Clay supported the Spanish-American revolutionists (1818) and the Greek insurgents (1824).

Related Topics:
Spanish - 1818 - Greek - 1824

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Personality

According to the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, Clay succeeded for the following reasons:

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"Clay's quick intelligence and sympathy, and his irreproachable conduct in youth, explain his precocious prominence in public affairs. In his persuasiveness as an orator and his charming personality lay the secret of his power. He early trained himself in the art of speech-making, in the forest, the field and even the barn, with horse and ox for audience. By contemporaries his voice was declared to be the finest musical instrument that they ever heard. His eloquence was in turn majestic, fierce, playful, insinuating; his gesticulation natural, vivid, large, powerful."

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"In public he was of magnificent bearing, possessing the true oratorical temperament, the nervous exaltation that makes the orator feel and appear a superior being, transfusing his thought, passion and will into the mind and heart of the listener; but his imagination frequently ran away with his understanding, while his imperious temper and ardent combativeness hurried him and his party into disadvantageous positions. The ease, too, with which he outshone men of vastly greater learning lured him from the task of intense and arduous study. His speeches were characterized by skill of statement, ingenious grouping of facts, fervent diction, and ardent patriotism; sometimes by biting sarcasm, but also by superficial research, half-knowledge and an unwillingness to reason a proposition to its logical results."

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"In private, his never-failing courtesy, his agreeable manners and a noble and generous heart for all who needed protection against the powerful or the lawless, endeared him to hosts of friends. His popularity was as great and as inexhaustible among his neighbors as among his fellow-citizens generally. He pronounced upon himself a just judgment when he wrote: 'If any one desires to know the leading and paramount object of my public life, the preservation of this Union will furnish him the key.'"

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