FREE ESSAY ON HENRY CLAY

HENRY CLAY

Clay was born on April 12, 1777, in Hanover County, Virginia. He was born to John Clay, a
minister. His mother Elizabeth Hudson was After studying for the bar with the eminent
George Wythe, Clay, at the age of 20, moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where he developed a
thriving practice. He was blessed with a quick mind, a flair for oratory, and an ability
to charm both sexes with his easy, attractive manner. That he loved to drink and gamble
was no drawback in an age that admired both vices. Clay, ambitious for worldly success,
married into a wealthy and socially prominent family and soon gained entry into
Kentucky's most influential circles. While still in his 20s, he was elected to the state
legislature, in which he served for six years, until 1809.
Clay established his great reputation in the United States House of Representatives,
where he served intermittently from 1811 to 1825. In his first term, he became one of the
leading War Hawks-the young men whose clamor for hostilities with England helped bring
about the War of 1812. Clay was selected as one of the commissioners who in 1814
negotiated the Treaty of Ghent, ending that war. 
In 1820-21 it was Clay above all who engineered the Missouri Compromise, quieting the
harsh controversy that had erupted by maintaining an equal balance between free and slave
states. Although he himself was a slave owner, Clay's views on slavery-as on most other
issues-were moderate. He was thus able to command the support of men fearful of
extremism.In the presidential election of 1824, after his own candidacy had failed, Clay
threw his support to John Quincy Adams, whom the House early in 1825 elected as the sixth
president. When Adams named Clay secretary of state, his Jacksonian opponents charged
corrupt bargain! The charge was unfair, but Clay was haunted by it throughout his
subsequent career.
Although Clay was a practical politician of flexible rather than rigid beliefs, he did
emerge as the great champion of the American System. He called for a protective tariff in
support of home manufactures, internal improvements (federal aid to local road and canal
projects), a strong national bank, and distribution of the proceeds of federal land sales
to the states.Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1831, Clay served in that body until 1842 and
again from 1849 until his death. In 1833 he devised a compromise tariff that resolved the
crisis brought on by South Carolina's attempt to nullify the prevailing tariff set by
Congress. In the same period he became a leader of the new Whig party that emerged to
oppose Andrew Jackson's administration.
Perhaps the most heartbreaking event of Clay's career was his close defeat in the
presidential contest of 1844, when his reluctance to back the annexation of Texas cost
him support in the South. Many believe that his greatest service to the nation came in
1850, when he helped win acceptance for a compromise that ended, at least temporarily,
the threat of civil war over the issue of slavery in the new territories. He died in
Washington, D.C., on June 29, 1852.