Clay, Henry (1777–1852)

US politician. He stood unsuccessfully three times for the presidency: as a Democratic-Republican in 1824, as a National Republican in 1832, and as a Whig in 1844. He supported the War of 1812 against Britain, and tried to hold the Union together on the slavery issue with the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and again in the compromise of 1850. He was secretary of state from 1825 until 1829 and devised an ‘American system’ for the national economy.

A powerful orator, he was a strong leader of the House of Representatives. He fought a duel over the accusation that he had struck a corrupt deal with John Quincy Adams to ensure the latter would be named president by the House in 1824.

Clay was born in Virginia. He was elected member of the Kentucky legislature 1803, the US Senate 1806, 1831, and 1849, and served in the House of Representatives 1811–21 and 1823–25. In 1814 he represented the USA at Ghent in the peace negotiations with Britain, to end the War of 1812. In foreign policy he strongly supported the South American republics in their struggle for independence. He advocated a convertible paper currency, demanded state assistance in the development of rail and water communications, and effected a compromise between the slave states and the abolitionists (the Compromise of 1850). His many successful efforts to bring about national harmony gained him the epithets of ‘the Great Compromiser’ and ‘the Great Pacificator’.