Henry Clay Birthday Highlights
Birth Name Henry Clay Sr.
Place Of Birth Hanover County, USA Age 246 years old
Birth Date April 11 1777
Henry Clay Facts
Child Star? no Occupation Former United States Secretary Of State Education & Qualifications William & Mary
Current Partner Lucretia Hart Children Henry Clay Jr., Theodore Clay, James Brown Clay, John Morrison Clay, Anne Clay, Thomas Hart Clay, Henrietta Clay, Eliza Clay, Lucretia Clay, Susan Clay, Laura Clay Parents Reverend John Clay, Elizabeth (née Hudson) Clay
About Henry Clay Henry Clay Sr. was an American lawyer and statesman.Henry Clay served in the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Clay served as the seventh House Speaker and the ninth Secretary of State.He obtained electoral votes for president in the presidential elections of 1824, 1832, and 1844. He was a founding member of both the National Republican Party and the Whig Party. Henry Clay was known as the “Great Compromiser” for his involvement in resolving sectional conflicts. He was a member of the Great Triumvirate of Congressmen, along with fellow Whigs Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun.In 1797, Henry Clay began his law profession in Lexington, Kentucky. Clay was elected to the Kentucky state legislature as a member of the Democratic-Republican Party in 1803, and to the United States House of Representatives in 1810. In early 1811, he was elected speaker of the house, and he and President James Madison led the United States into the massive war of 1812 against Great Britain. After the War of 1812, Clay returned to his role as speaker of the House and devised the American system, which called for federal infrastructure spending, support for the national bank, and high protective tariff rates.Henry Clay was elected to the Senate in 1831 and stood as the National Republican contender for president in 1832, but he was soundly beaten by President Andrew Jackson.Henry Clay ran for the presidency in the 1840 election but was defeated by Harrison at the Whig National Convention. When Harrison died and his vice president took over, Clay battled with Harrison’s successor, John Tyler, who split with Clay and other congressional Whigs after entering office when Harrison died in 1841. Henry resigned from the Senate in 1842 and won the Whig presidential nomination in 1844, but Clay was defeated in the general election by Democrat James K. Polk, who campaigned on the annexation of the Republic of Texas. Clay was a vocal opponent of the succeeding Mexican–American Civil War and ran for the Whig presidential candidacy in 1848, but he was beaten by General Zachary Taylor, who went on to win the election.Henry then returned to the Senate in 1849 and was instrumental in enacting the compromise of 1850, which averted a crisis over slavery in the territories. Clay is often considered to be one of the most significant and influential political personalities of his time. Childhood And EducationHenry Clay was born on April 12, 1777, in Hanover County, Virginia, at the Clay Farm. He was the seventh of the Reverend John Clay and Elizabeth (née Hudson) Clay’s nine children. His father, a Baptist clergyman known as “Sir John”, died in 1781.Elizabeth Clay, a widow, married Captain Henry Watkins. Henry Clay stayed in Hanover County when his mother remarried, where he learned to read and write. Watkins arranged Clay’s temporary work at a Richmond emporium with the promise that Clay would be appointed to the next vacant clerkship at the Virginia Court of Chancery.Henry Clay’s handwriting drew the notice of George Wythe, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, mentor to Thomas Jefferson, and judge on Virginia’s High Court of Chancery. With one hand not functional, Wythe picked Henry Clay as his secretary and amanuensis, a position he would hold for four years.While studying under Wythe, Wythe had a major influence on Clay’s worldview, with Clay accepting Wythe’s notion that the United States’ example might help extend human freedom across the world. Wythe then arranged for Henry Clay to work for Virginia Attorney General Robert Brooke, with the understanding that Brooke would complete Clay’s legal education. Clay was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1797 after finishing his studies with Brooke.Family and RelationshipHenry Clay married Lucretia Hart on April 11, 1799, at the Hart residence in Lexington, Kentucky. Henry and Lucretia remained married until his death in 1852 in Washington; she died at the age of 83 in 1864. Both are laid to rest in Lexington Cemetery.Henry Clay and Lucretia had a total of eleven children (six daughters and five sons). By 1835, all six daughters had died for various reasons; two while they were quite young, two as children, and the final two as young mothers.Career And Professional HighlightsBest Known For…In November 1797, Clay moved to Lexington, Kentucky, with his parents and siblings. The Bluegrass area, with Lexington as its heart, had expanded rapidly in the preceding decades but had only lately been free of Native American incursions. Lexington was a thriving city that was home to Transylvania Institution, the first university west of the Appalachian Mountains. Clay earned his Kentucky legal license immediately after passing the Virginia Bar.Clay entered his political career not long after moving to Kentucky. In his first political address, he condemned the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were enacted by the Federalists to stifle dissent during the Quasi-War with France. Clay, like most Kentuckians, was a Democrat-Republican Party member, but he disagreed with state party leaders over a state constitutional convention. Under the pen name Scaevola, Clay argued for direct elections for Kentucky elected officials and the progressive abolition of slavery in Kentucky. The direct election of public officials was established in the 1799 Kentucky Constitution, but the state did not accept Clay’s proposal for gradual emancipation.Aaron Burr, who was prosecuted for treason in the Burr conspiracy, was Clay’s most renowned client. In 1807, Clay and his attorney partner, John Allen, successfully defended Burr without charging a fee. Thomas Jefferson subsequently persuaded Clay that Burr was innocent of the allegations. Following his election to Congress, Clay’s law practice was minimal. Clay filed the first amicus curiae brief in Supreme Court in the 1823 case Green v. Biddle. He did, however, lose that lawsuit.Henry Clay was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1803. His first legislative attempt in politics was the partisan gerrymandering of Kentucky’s Electoral College districts, which insured that all of Kentucky’s presidential electors voted for President Jefferson in the 1804 election.After New York Congressman James Tallmadge submitted a parliamentary resolution that would provide for the abolishment of Missouri’s slavery in early 1819, a debate emerged over Missouri’s planned statehood. Despite having previously advocated for gradual emancipation in Kentucky, Clay joined with Southerners in opposing Tallmadge’s proposal.Clay won Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri in 1824, but his losses in New York and Louisiana dropped him to the fourth position behind Adams, Jackson, and Crawford.Even after Henry Clay left office, President Andrew Jackson saw Clay as a serious opponent. Jackson accused Clay of being behind the Petticoat incident, a problem involving the wives of his Cabinet members. Clay was a vocal opponent of the 1830 Indian Removal Act, which gave the administration the authority to transfer Native Americans west of the Mississippi River.Jackson announced his intention to compete for re-election in 1831, assuring that support or opposition to his presidency would be a key aspect of the approaching elections. In the 1832 election, Andrew Jackson beat Clay.Following the 1832 election, South Carolina conducted a state convention that proclaimed the tariff rates of 1828 and 1832 null and void inside the state, as well as that federal collection of import taxes, would be prohibited after January 1833. In reaction to the Nullification Crisis, Jackson issued the Proclamation to the People of South Carolina, which explicitly prohibited states’ authority to nullify federal laws or secede. He requested Congress to enact the Force Bill, which authorized the president to send federal troops against South Carolina if it attempted to overturn federal law. Though Clay supported high tariff rates, he was disturbed by Jackson’s harsh language against South Carolina and hoped to avert a situation that may have led to civil war.The Panic of 1837, a significant recession that severely harmed the Democratic Party, had a negative impact on Van Buren’s presidency. Clay and other Whigs said that Jackson’s policies, such as the employment of pet banks, had fostered speculation and contributed to the crisis. He championed the American System as a means of economic revival, while President Van Buren’s answer centered on ‘strict economy and austerity’.Birney received thousands of anti-annexation votes in New York in 1844, and his participation in the candidacy may have cost Clay the election.Clay’s Whig Party disintegrated four years after his death, but Clay’s legacy loomed large over the generation of political leaders that ruled over the civil war.Charity WorkUnder the influence of his tutor, George Wythe, Henry Clay developed antislavery ideas in the 1790s. Clay, like most of his contemporaries, was not a racial egalitarian and never advocated for the quick abolition of slavery; rather, he saw slavery as a grievous evil to the slave and advocated for equal treatment for free blacks. Clay advocated for gradual emancipation in both Kentucky and Missouri, but both states rejected measures that would have provided for gradual emancipation.Other Interesting Henry Clay Facts And TriviaHenry Clay championed his American system as both an economic program and a way of unifying the country throughout most of his political career. Clay’s American system abandoned rigorous constructionism in favor of an aggressive government that would contribute to a more equitable and effective distribution of economic advantages.The American system was built on four pillars: high tariffs, a stable banking system, federal investment in internal improvements, and a public land sale strategy aimed to create income while allowing for careful management of growth in the American frontier.Clay’s support for federally funded internal improvements originated from his idea that only the federal government could build the transportation system required to commercially and culturally unite the country.Even after repeated trials in politics, Henry Clay could never really win the hearts of the New York people.There are several books on Henry Clay in the Library of Congress.Clay’s house in Washington, D.C., during his service as secretary of state, the Decatur House, is also a National Historic Landmark. Because of his engagement in the American Colonization Society, a town in newly founded Liberia in West Africa was called Clay-Ashland after Henry Clay, and it was to this area that liberated slaves from Kentucky moved.We would love your help! If you have a photo of Henry Clay, either of them alone or a selfie that you would be happy to share, please send it to [email protected].If you have knowledge or information that you think would help us improve this article, please contact us.
Henry Clay Birthday Highlights
Birth Name Henry Clay Sr.
Place Of Birth Hanover County, USA Age 246 years old
Birth Date April 11 1777
Henry Clay Facts
Child Star? no Occupation Former United States Secretary Of State Education & Qualifications William & Mary
Current Partner Lucretia Hart Children Henry Clay Jr., Theodore Clay, James Brown Clay, John Morrison Clay, Anne Clay, Thomas Hart Clay, Henrietta Clay, Eliza Clay, Lucretia Clay, Susan Clay, Laura Clay Parents Reverend John Clay, Elizabeth (née Hudson) Clay
Henry Clay Sr. was an American lawyer and statesman.
Henry Clay Birthday Highlights
Birth Name Henry Clay Sr.
Place Of Birth Hanover County, USA Age 246 years old
Birth Date April 11 1777
Henry Clay Birthday Highlights
Birth Name Henry Clay Sr.
Place Of Birth Hanover County, USA Age 246 years old
Birth Date April 11 1777
Birth Name Henry Clay Sr.
Place Of Birth Hanover County, USA Age 246 years old
Birth Date April 11 1777
Birth Name Henry Clay Sr.
Place Of Birth Hanover County, USA Age 246 years old
Birth Date April 11 1777
Henry Clay Facts
Child Star? no Occupation Former United States Secretary Of State Education & Qualifications William & Mary
Current Partner Lucretia Hart Children Henry Clay Jr., Theodore Clay, James Brown Clay, John Morrison Clay, Anne Clay, Thomas Hart Clay, Henrietta Clay, Eliza Clay, Lucretia Clay, Susan Clay, Laura Clay Parents Reverend John Clay, Elizabeth (née Hudson) Clay
Henry Clay Facts
Child Star? no Occupation Former United States Secretary Of State Education & Qualifications William & Mary
Current Partner Lucretia Hart Children Henry Clay Jr., Theodore Clay, James Brown Clay, John Morrison Clay, Anne Clay, Thomas Hart Clay, Henrietta Clay, Eliza Clay, Lucretia Clay, Susan Clay, Laura Clay Parents Reverend John Clay, Elizabeth (née Hudson) Clay
Child Star? no Occupation Former United States Secretary Of State Education & Qualifications William & Mary
Current Partner Lucretia Hart Children Henry Clay Jr., Theodore Clay, James Brown Clay, John Morrison Clay, Anne Clay, Thomas Hart Clay, Henrietta Clay, Eliza Clay, Lucretia Clay, Susan Clay, Laura Clay Parents Reverend John Clay, Elizabeth (née Hudson) Clay
Child Star? no Occupation Former United States Secretary Of State Education & Qualifications William & Mary
Current Partner Lucretia Hart Children Henry Clay Jr., Theodore Clay, James Brown Clay, John Morrison Clay, Anne Clay, Thomas Hart Clay, Henrietta Clay, Eliza Clay, Lucretia Clay, Susan Clay, Laura Clay Parents Reverend John Clay, Elizabeth (née Hudson) Clay
