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[[image:henryclay.jpg|200px|thumb|Henry Clay]]

|image         = henryclay.jpg

|office8        = Member of the<br />[[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br />from [[Kentucky]]

|term_start8    = March 4, 1811

|term_end8      = January 19, 1814

|party          = [[Democratic-Republican]] (1797–1825)<br />[[National Republican Party|National Republican]] (1825–1833)<br />[[Whig Party|Whig]] (1833–1852)

'''Henry Clay''' (April 12, 1777 – June 29, 1852) was one of the half-dozen most important American leaders in the 1812-1850 era, running three times for president, and losing each time. He represented the West—his state of [[Kentucky]]—in House and Senate, and founded and dominated the [[Whig Party]] during the [[Second Party System]]. Clay led the opposition to [[Andrew Jackson]], [[Martin Van Buren]], [[James Knox Polk]]  and [[Jacksonian Democracy]]. He is called the "Great Compromiser" for his leadership that prevented the slavery issue from ripping the nation apart in the [[Missouri Compromise]] in 1820, the [[Nullification Crisis]] in 1832, and the [[Compromise of 1850]]. His ideas greatly influenced [[Abraham Lincoln]] and the [[Republican Party]], which emerged after his death and promoted his ideas of national greatness through industry, banking and modernization. Clay was a leading [[nationalist]].

'''Henry Clay''' (April 12, 1777 – June 29, 1852) was one of the half-dozen most important American leaders in the 1812-1850 era, running three times for president, and losing each time. He represented the West—his state of [[Kentucky]]—in House and Senate, and founded and dominated the [[Whig Party]] during the [[Second Party System]]. Clay led the opposition to [[Andrew Jackson]], [[Martin Van Buren]], [[James Knox Polk]]  and [[Jacksonian Democracy]]. He is called the "Great Compromiser" for his leadership that prevented the slavery issue from ripping the nation apart in the [[Missouri Compromise]] in 1820, the [[Nullification Crisis]] in 1832, and the [[Compromise of 1850]]. His ideas greatly influenced [[Abraham Lincoln]] and the [[Republican Party]], which emerged after his death and promoted his ideas of national greatness through industry, banking and modernization. Clay was a leading [[nationalist]].

negotiated the [[Treaty of Ghent]], signed [[Christmas eve]] 1814. His shrewd surmise that the British would accept moderate terms despite their land victories, served the United States better than did [[John Quincy Adams]]' readiness to give the British free navigation of the Mississippi River in exchange for the right of New Englanders to fish in Canadian waters.

negotiated the [[Treaty of Ghent]], signed [[Christmas eve]] 1814. His shrewd surmise that the British would accept moderate terms despite their land victories, served the United States better than did [[John Quincy Adams]]' readiness to give the British free navigation of the Mississippi River in exchange for the right of New Englanders to fish in Canadian waters.

===American System===

===[[American System]]===

Clay resumed the speakership of the House of Representatives

Clay resumed the speakership of the House of Representatives

and, looking toward the presidency, began to develop his famous

and, looking toward the presidency, began to develop his famous

[[Image:Henry-clay5.jpg|thumb|420px|Clay appeals for compromise in the Senate, 1850]] In 1849 Clay returned to the Senate in a last effort to modify the influence of the increasing numbers of extremists, Northern and Southern. His [[Compromise of 1850]] was intended to satisfy both sections, brought California into the Union as a free state, ended the slave trade in Washington DC (but did not abolish slavery there), and included other provisions intended to balance Southern and Northern interests. Its most controversial provision, the [[Fugitive Slave Law]], would have guaranteed slaveholders the return of their runaways and thus presumably have done away with the root of sectional differences. Clay hoped that this, his last and greatest compromise, would forever prevent a civil war. Alongside Clay in the Senate were the other two of the great triumvirate which had dominated American politics for more than thirty years.<ref>Peterson 1987</ref> The dying [[John C. Calhoun]] demanded for the South what was in effect equality with the federal government. [[Daniel Webster]], on the other hand, joined with Clay in his famous Seventh of March address and pleaded for an end to sectional strife. Clay was unable to get his compromise passed but Democrat [[Stephen A. Douglas]] unpackaged the compromise so that each component was passed by a different coalition.  The compromise effectively postponed war for another decade, but Clay did not live to see the collapse of his Whig party after it lost the 1852 elections.

[[Image:Henry-clay5.jpg|thumb|420px|Clay appeals for compromise in the Senate, 1850]] In 1849 Clay returned to the Senate in a last effort to modify the influence of the increasing numbers of extremists, Northern and Southern. His [[Compromise of 1850]] was intended to satisfy both sections, brought California into the Union as a free state, ended the slave trade in Washington DC (but did not abolish slavery there), and included other provisions intended to balance Southern and Northern interests. Its most controversial provision, the [[Fugitive Slave Law]], would have guaranteed slaveholders the return of their runaways and thus presumably have done away with the root of sectional differences. Clay hoped that this, his last and greatest compromise, would forever prevent a civil war. Alongside Clay in the Senate were the other two of the great triumvirate which had dominated American politics for more than thirty years.<ref>Peterson 1987</ref> The dying [[John C. Calhoun]] demanded for the South what was in effect equality with the federal government. [[Daniel Webster]], on the other hand, joined with Clay in his famous Seventh of March address and pleaded for an end to sectional strife. Clay was unable to get his compromise passed but Democrat [[Stephen A. Douglas]] unpackaged the compromise so that each component was passed by a different coalition.  The compromise effectively postponed war for another decade, but Clay did not live to see the collapse of his Whig party after it lost the 1852 elections.

===Legacy===

===Legacy===

He died in Washington on June 29, 1852. Clay lacked Webster's powerful logic and learning and Calhoun's cast-iron principles, but he was equal to both men in national power and he outranked them in the affection he inspired. Although his program of compromise suffered a loss of prestige during the secessionist crisis, it was renewed in the vision of one of his admirers: Abraham Lincoln called his fellow Kentuckian "my beau ideal of a statesman, the man for whom I fought all my humble life."<ref>Mark E. Neely, Jr. "American Nationalism in the Image of Henry Clay: Abraham Lincoln's Eulogy on Henry Clay in Context." ''Register of the Kentucky Historical Society'' 1975 73(1): 31-61.</ref>

He died in Washington on June 29, 1852. Clay lacked Webster's powerful logic and learning and Calhoun's cast-iron principles, but he was equal to both men in national power and he outranked them in the affection he inspired. Although his program of compromise suffered a loss of prestige during the secessionist crisis, it was renewed in the vision of one of his admirers: [[Abraham Lincoln]] called his fellow Kentuckian "my beau ideal of a statesman, the man for whom I fought all my humble life."<ref>Mark E. Neely, Jr. "American Nationalism in the Image of Henry Clay: Abraham Lincoln's Eulogy on Henry Clay in Context." ''Register of the Kentucky Historical Society'' 1975 73(1): 31-61.</ref>

 

==Quotes==

==Quotes==

"The Constitution of the United States was made not merely for the generation that then existed, but for posterity- unlimited, undefined, endless, perpetual posterity."<ref>https://quotes.thefamouspeople.com/henry-clay-1607.php</ref>

*"The Constitution of the United States was made not merely for the generation that then existed, but for posterity-unlimited, undefined, endless, perpetual posterity."<ref>https://quotes.thefamouspeople.com/henry-clay-1607.php</ref>

 

*"I always have had, and always shall have, a profound regard for Christianity, the religion of my fathers, and for its rights, its usages and observances."<ref>https://quotefancy.com/quote/1135971/Henry-Clay-I-always-have-had-and-always-shall-have-a-profound-regard-for-Christianity-the</ref>

==Bibliography==

==Bibliography==

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Clay, Henry}}

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{{Nationalism}}

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