Henry Clay

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House of Representatives, Clay backed John Quincy Adams instead of supporting Andrew Jackson. Support which inevitable led Adams to becoming president. This support also led to Clay starting a bitter rivalry with Jackson, who brought an end to the Era of Good Feelings and thwarted many of Clay’s attempts to pass the things he backed.

During this time Clay also built good relations with Latin America. He used this relationship with Mexico to try and prevent a war between them and the United States. Clay was worried that annexing Texas would provoke Mexico, causing a war. He also believed that it would further the tension between the North and South. Clay was also the president of the American Colonization Society. He worked to try and gradually emancipate slaves. Through the society he tried to train them, outfit them, and then send them back to Africa. His efforts were in place to try and keep the union together and prevent a civil war until absolutely necessary. These views are also what had cost him the presidency to James K. Polk, soon leading to the Mexican-American War and the event that sparked the Civil War.

After the War of 1812, and through the burst of nationalism that followed, Henry Clay developed the “American System”. Clay’s American System was one of the chief platforms of Clay’s Whig Party. The Whig Party was formed by Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, and was the beginning platform for what is now today the Republican Party. Clay’s American System was a system of government sponsored programs that is still historically one of the best examples of government-sponsorship. Clay’s system tried to harmoniously balance commerce, industry and agriculture. Throughout his time in the House and Senate Clay passed many laws and policies centered around the ideas of the American System. The system was composed of three parts. One part consisted of tariffs that would help promote industry and protect it. Laying the groundwork for much of the Government economic aid in the United States. Clay also wanted a national bank I place to help foster commerce. The money the government would earn would be used for internal improvements and improving education. Clay wanted to make “internal improvements”, from roads to canals. Clay’s American System set the basis for transportation projects and nationwide roads, connecting every corner of the country. Clay and congress enacted many programs supporting each of the American Systems element. With the concepts set forth in his American System, Clay’s ideas tied together the separate sections of the country, promoted economic development, and improve education.

As the Great Compromiser, a nickname Clay rightfully earned, he did all he could to avoid a civil war. Three separate compromises resulted at the hands of Clay in a thirty year span, each a significant moment in history. The first of these is the Missouri Compromise. With rising tension between pro and antislavery supporters across the country Missouri’s request to be admitted as a slave state was a tipping point. This would upset the balance between free and slave states, an even eleven states on each side. Clay, and congress, put together a two part compromise. He allowed Missouri to be admitted as a slave state, but also admitted Maine as a free state to keep the balance. This quelled some the growing hostility between the North and South, pulling back from a civil war. With this Clay also drew a new imaginary line separating the free and slave states, right across the Louisiana territory. With this Clay allowed for the expansion of the West to continue while the topic of slavery was still kept at a standstill. Thirteen years later Clay again helped to pull the United States back from a civil war. The Tariff Compromise of 1833 calmed the South and its legislation, and even helped Jackson and his administration. While the high tariffs were significantly hurting Southern tobacco and cotton farmers, they were significantly less damaging to the industries in the North. The relationship between the Southern legislation and the North’s was further stressed to the point that South Carolina threatened to secede. Clay’s Tariff Compromise of 1833 reduced the rate of tariffs slowly, pulling South Carolina back and easing some of the tension between the North and South. Clay stepped in for one last compromise when it came down to California being a free or slave state. With the Compromise of 1850 he managed to bring California in as a free state, but not also admit slave state along with it. Clay tipped the scale between slave and non-slave states but still kept the Union in one piece. With this Clay also ended the debate of Texas’ boundary line, further shaping the nation. The compromise of 1850 also enacted the Fugitive Slave Act, to pacify the South, but in return it abolished the slave trade in the District of Columbia. Over those thirty years Clay prove why he was widely known as the Great Pacificator and the Great Compromiser, and as the man who helped hold the Union together till it was ready.

Serving both in the House and the Senate, Clay did not sit idly by but worked to change the nation. When Clay became speaker of the House he forever change the position’s role. He took a position that’s main goal was to mediate and converted it into a political power that comes only second to the President. He used this power to develop the country to his liking. From pushing for the War of 1812 to help America globally, to creating his American System to help those right at home, Clay wanted to change the United States for the better. Without his ‘internal improvements’ and government funded programs roads, canals, education and agriculture would not be what they are today. If it was not for Clay forming the Whig Party we would not have the second party system we have today. With the Whig Party Clay set the ground work the Republican Party we have today. The Great Compromiser worked hard to prevent a civil war. Each compromise Clay formed kept the North and South in check, pulling them back from the brink of war. Throughout his time in both the House and Senate Henry Clay gave almost half a century of service shaping and changing the still young nation in momentous