1. Arnaldo Perez History of United States Prof. Miguel Gonzalez

2. Personal Facts NAME: Henry Clay OCCUPATION: U.S. Representative, lawyer BIRTH DATE: April 12, 1777 DEATH DATE: June 29, 1852 PLACE OF BIRTH: Hanover County, Virginia PLACE OF DEATH: Washington, D.C. FULL NAME: Henry Clay Sr. "The Great Compromiser and "The Great Pacifier" 3. Early Years Clay was raised with modest wealth, the seventh of nine children born to Reverend John and Elizabeth Hudson Clay.His link to American history came at an early age. He was 3 years old when he watched the British troops ransack his family home. After a minimal formal education, In 1797 moved to Kentucky at the age of 20 and settled in Lexington. Clay read law and gained admission to the bar in both Virginia and Kentucky in 1797. With great success, he got aided by his sharp wit and nimble mind. He became a leading real estate and business lawyer in Frankfort, Kentucky and soon embarked on a career in politics. 4. Marriage Lucretia Hart, the daughter of a wealthy Lexington businessman, in 1799. The two remained married for more than 50 years, having 11 children together. 5. Political Start Clay was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1803 and served to 1806. Next, he served as Senator from Kentucky, from 1806 to 1807, and then returned to the State House of Representatives, from 1807 to 1809. In 1810 Clay returned to the Senate and served until 1811. Democratic-Republican National RepublicanWhig 6. Jobs at Goverment United States Senator from Kentucky 9th United States Secretary of State 8th, 10th and 13th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 3rd district Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 2nd district Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 5th district 7. Controversy in the Constitution In 1806, after a stint in the Kentucky legislature, he was elected to fill the unexpired term of a U.S. senator who had resigned. Clay took the seat, although he was four months younger than the constitutional age requirement of 30. 8. Treaty of Ghent 1812-1814 9. Young Statesman On other fronts, Clay took head-on some of the biggest issues of the day. He pushed for independence for several Latin American republics, advocated for a national bank and, perhaps most significantly, argued strongly and successfully for a negotiated settlement between slave-owning states and the rest of the country over its western policy. 10. The Missouri Compromise Was passed in 1820 between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress, involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 3630 north except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri. 11. Cont. Clay earned the sobriquet "Great Compromiser" by crafting three major legislative compromises over the course of 30 years. Each time, he pulled the United States from the brink of civil war. In 1820 and 1821, he used his role as Speaker of the House to broker the Missouri Compromise, a series of brilliant resolutions he introduced to defuse the pitched battle as to whether Missouri would be admitted to the Union as a slave state or free state. Although he owned slaves himself, Clay anguished about slavery, which he called a "great evil." He believed slavery would become economically obsolete as a growing population reduced the cost of legitimate labor. Under Clay's compromise, Missouri was admitted as a slave state and Maine as a free state. 12. The United States in 1819 (the light orange and light green areas were not then part of the United States). The Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery in the unorganized territory of the Great Plains (upper dark green) and permitted it in Missouri (yellow) and the Arkansas Territory (lower blue area). 13. Election of 1824 Corrupt Bargain Clays appointment as Secretary of State stirred controversy. After the votes were counted in the U.S. presidential election of 1824, no candidate had received a majority of the Presidential Electoral votes, thereby putting the outcome in the hands of the House of Representatives. To the surprise of many, the House elected John Quincy Adams over rival Andrew Jackson. It was widely believed that Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House at the time, convinced Congress to elect Adams, who then made Clay his Secretary of State. 14. Tarrif of 1828 The Tariff of May 19, 1828, was a protective tariff passed by the U.S. Congress. It was the highest tariff in U.S. peacetime history up to that point, enacting a 62% tax on 92% of all imported goods. The goal of the tariff was to protect northern U.S. industries by placing a tax on low-priced imported goods, which had been driving northern industries out of business. Nevertheless, the South strongly resisted the Tariff of 1828 for several reasons. 15. Whig PartyOne of the political parties that emerged from the demise of the Democratic-Republican Party. Members of the Whig Party believed in a strong federal government, tariff protection, a strong national bank, and federally sponsored communication projects. All of this together was called the "National System," a focus on the strengthening of the country as a whole through the federal government, rather than through the state governments, as was preferred by the newly formed Democratic Party. Henry Clay and Daniel Webster were important early members of the Whig Party. 16. Presidency Clay ran for President, but was beaten. Again in 1832, just as the new party was formed, he ran a second time. Although he was beaten for the Presidency by Andrew Jackson, he was the life and soul of his party. It was his eloquence, the music of his words, that made men Whigs. On one occasion, Clay spoke on the question of the Abolition of Slavery. Some one said that this might hurt his chances of being President. Clay replied: "I had rather be right than be President. Finally, in 1844, he was again the Whig candidate, but he was defeated for the third time. When the Whig party had a good chance of electing a President, they nominated somebody else. When they had a poor chance they nominated Henry Clay! 17. In 1850, with the question raised of whether California should become part of the U.S. as either a slave state or a free state, Clay stepped to the negotiating table once more. The compromise, Drafted by Whig Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky and brokered by Clay and Democrat Stephen Douglas, avoided secession or civil war and reduced sectional conflict for four years. In addition, the bill covered the settlement of the Texas boundary line, the fugitive slave law and the abolition of the slave trade in 18. Influence in Abraham Lincoln Over the course of his long career, Clay's skills became renowned in Washington, D.C., earning him the nicknames The Great Compromiser and The Great Pacificator. His influence was so strong that he came to be admired by a young Abraham Lincoln, who referred to Clay as "my beau ideal of a statesman." 19. Death Clay died in 1852. Despite his brilliant service to the country and three separate campaigns, he never attained his greatest ambition-the presidency. A man of immense political abilities and extraordinary charm, Clay won widespread admiration, even among his adversaries. John C. Calhoun, whom he had bested in the Compromise of 1850, once declared, "I don't like Clay. . . . I wouldn't speak to him, but, by God! I love him. 20. Sir, I would rather be right than to be President. Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character. The Constitution of the United States was made not merely for the generation that then existed, but for posterity- unlimited,