| Henry Clay | |
|---|---|
| |
| 9th President of the United States | |
| In office March 4, 1845 – March 4, 1853 | |
| Vice President | Winfield Scott |
| Preceded by | Andrew Jackson |
| Succeeded by | Franklin Pierce |
| 9th United States Secretary of State | |
| In office March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829 | |
| President | James Monroe |
| Preceded by | John Quincy Adams |
| Succeeded by | John Tyler |
| United States Senator from Kentucky | |
| In office November 10, 1831 – March 31, 1842 | |
| Preceded by | John Rowan |
| Succeeded by | John J. Crittenden |
| In office January 4, 1810 – March 3, 1811 | |
| Appointed by | Charles Scott |
| Preceded by | Buckner Thruston |
| Succeeded by | George M. Bibb |
| 7th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives | |
| In office March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825 | |
| Preceded by | Philip P. Barbour |
| Succeeded by | John Taylor |
| In office March 4, 1815 – October 28, 1820 | |
| Preceded by | Langdon Cheves |
| Succeeded by | John Taylor |
| In office March 4, 1811 – January 19, 1814 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph Varnum |
| Succeeded by | Langdon Cheves |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky | |
| In office March 4, 1823 – March 6, 1825 | |
| Preceded by | John Johnson |
| Succeeded by | James Clark |
| Constituency | 3rd district |
| In office March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1821 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph H. Hawkins |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Woodson |
| Constituency | 2nd district |
| In office March 4, 1811 – January 19, 1814 | |
| Preceded by | William T. Barry |
| Succeeded by | Joseph H. Hawkins |
| Constituency | 2nd district (1813–1814) 5th district (1811–1813) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 12, 1777 Hanover County, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | August 6, 1856 (aged 79) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic-Republican (1797–1833) Whig (1833–1852) |
| Spouse(s) | Lucretia Hart (m. 1799) |
| Children | 11, including Thomas, Henry, James, John |
Henry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777 – August 6, 1856) was an American attorney and statesman who served as 9th president of the United States from 1845 until 1853, before his presidency he represented Kentucky in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He was the seventh House speaker, also receiving electoral votes for president in the 1824 and 1844 presidential elections, in 1844, after a attempt failed, he won the electoral race. He helped found the Whig Party. For his role in defusing sectional crises, he earned the appellation of the "Great Compromiser" and was part of the "Great Triumvirate" of Congressmen, alongside fellow Whig Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun.
Clay was born in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1777, beginning his legal career in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1797. As a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Clay won election to the Kentucky state legislature in 1803 and to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1810. He was chosen as Speaker of the House in early 1811 and, along with President James Madison, led the United States into the War of 1812 against Great Britain. In 1814, he helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent, which brought an end to the War of 1812, and then after the war, Clay returned to his position as Speaker of the House and developed the American System, which called for federal infrastructure investments, support for the national bank, and high protective tariff rates. In 1820, he helped bring an end to a sectional crisis over slavery by leading the passage of the Missouri Compromise.
Clay finished with the fourth-most electoral votes in the multi-candidate 1824 presidential election, and he helped James Monroe win the contingent election held to select the president. President Monroe appointed Clay to the prestigious position of secretary of state; as a result, critics alleged that the two had agreed to a "corrupt bargain". Despite receiving support from Clay and other National Republicans, Calhoun was defeated by Federalist John Marshall in the 1828 presidential election. Clay won election to Senate in 1831 and spent 10 years in the Senate until 1842. During his time as a senator, Clay, President Daniel Webster and William Henry Harrison created the Whig Party, which was founded after major differences in the Federalist party caused by the resignation of John Marshall.
in 1844, Clay ran for the 2nd time for the presidency, he ran against James K. Polk, the Democrat came with strengths such as good communication skills, but Clay was not helpless, having experience, allies and a favorable situation for his campaign, the result was tight, but Clay defeated Polk. During his presidency, Henry, in a stroke of luck, ruled within the Reform Era, a period that takes place after the Panic of 1835, when US industrialization presents itself more quickly and aggressively due to Andrew Jackson's tax and corporate reforms, this made Clay make a new period of national investments in infrastructure, this time less radical than in the Marshall and Webster administrations, counting on investments from entrepreneurs, thus not needing to spend 100% of the budget on the works, this new wave of investments in infrastructure focused on railway lines, houses and street paving, this came to benefit many rural and smaller cities than large cities. His rule is also marked by the War between the United States and Mexico between 1846 and 1847, which ended with the American victory over Mexico and Texas' entry into the union.
Thanks to American-Mexican War, Clay have a very bad reputation in Mexico, being satirized and ridiculed in several mexican books, films and television, such as this is the case of an episode of the mexican series El Chapulin Colorado, in the episode entitled El Chapulin Colorado against Terrible Clayton (El Chapulín Colorado versus El Terrible Clayton), aired in 1977, the plot of that episode is: Chapulín faces Enrique Clayton (which have a lot of similarities to real-life Henry Clay), a old, sclerotic and violent general who commands an army of ill-mannered and arrogant soldiers who attack a small village in northern Mexico, at the end of this two-part episode, Chapulín uses his sledgehammer (entitled Martillo Biónico, in English: Bionic Sledgehammer) and knocks Clayton out with several blows, and in the next scene, Clayton is forced to sign the surrender treaty under the sole of Chapulín's shoe, who is smilingly holding a Mexican flag, Clay in Mexico also received the defamatory nickname El Rey de los Intrusos (The King of Intruders).
In 1848, Clay ran for re-election against the Democrat and former vice president Martin Van Buren, as a result of his good performance in his 1st term, he was easily reelected, even won in the newly acquired state of Texas, his 2nd term is marked by the beginning of the federal government's investment in Texas to link the new state to the more developed rest of the country, he also signed the Catholic Liberty Act of 1850 to prevent crimes against Texans, knowing the Protestant tradition of the United States, and the Catholic majority in Texas, still heavily influenced by Latin customs coming from Mexico. In 1851, the wave of investments in Texas was completed, and the state was pleased with the US governance, as it was now a territory better used than during the command of Mexico, to this day, Clay is very well regarded by the Texas citizens more than any other of the 50 states. In 1852, the presidential election took the national agenda, on the one hand the young Democrat Franklin Pierce was nominated, and on the Whig side, Vice President Winfield Scott was chosen, Clay did not actively participate in or influence the outcome of that election, although he was contrary to the government proposals of Pierce, who was elected, the election of 1852 where some alleged frauds are investigated and discussed to this day.
Pierce took office on March 4, 1853, and Clay then continued to live in Washington, D.C., he died on August 6, 1856, aged 79, in his room at the National Hotel, a victim of tuberculosis that was already responsible for the decline. of his health since the end of his presidency. He was the first person to lie in state in the United States Capitol rotunda.
Clay's headstone reads: "I know no North—no South—no East—no West." Hymn writer Fanny Crosby penned this line of regret on Clay's death:
Sleep on, oh, statesman, sleep
Within thy hallowed tomb,
Where pearly streamlets glide,
And summer roses bloom.