Leader of the Whig Party and Five Times an Unsuccessful Presidential Candidate, Henry

Henry Clay

Leader of the Whig party and five times an unsuccessful presidential candidate, Henry Clay (1777-1852) played a central role on the stage of national politics for over forty years. He was secretary of state under John Quincy Adams, Speaker of the House of Representatives longer than anyone else in the nineteenth century, and the most influential member of the Senate during its golden age.

Clay’s personal [appeal] made him one of America’s best-loved politicians; his elaborate scheming made him one of the most [warmly] hated. Through it all he displayed remarkable consistency of purpose: he was a nationalist, devoted to the economic development and political integration of the United States.

As Speaker of the House in 1812, Clay was one of the ‘War Hawks,’ men who believed that war with Great Britain was necessary to preserve the overseas markets of American staple producers. But Clay also served as a negotiator at the Ghent peace conference, and for the rest of his life pursued conciliation at home and abroad. Although a slaveholder, Clay disapproved of slavery as a system; he advocated gradual emancipation and the resettlement of the freed people in Africa. He defended, unsuccessfully, the right of the so-called Five Civilized Tribes of Indians to their lands. He warned that annexation ofTexaswould provoke war withMexicoand exacerbate tensions between North and South, and he opposed the war when it came. He consistently fostered good relations with Latin America.

The centerpiece of Clay’s statecraft was an integrated economic program called ‘the American System.’ This envisioned a protective tariff, a national bank jointly owned by private stockholders and the federal government, and federal subsidies for transportation projects (‘internal improvements’). Public lands in the West were to be sold rather than given away to homesteaders so the proceeds could be used for education and internal improvements. The program was intended to promote economic development and diversification, reduce dependence on imports, and tie together the different sections of the country.

Clay was called ‘the Great Compromiser’ because he played a major role in formulating the three landmark sectional compromises of his day: theMissouriCompromise of 1820, the Tariff Compromise of 1833, and theCompromise of 1850. Coming from the border state ofKentucky, he was predisposed toward moderation when sectional conflicts were involved. His main objective was to avoid a civil war.

Clay never became president, and his Whig party disappeared shortly after his death. But its successor, the Republican party, put many features of the American System into operation. In the long run, his economic and political vision of America was largely fulfilled.

Henry Clay's "Compromise" Speech February 6, 1850

Henry Clay’s speech in defense of the Compromise of 1850.

“It has been objected against [The Compromise of 1850] that it is a compromise. It has been said that it is a compromise of principle, or of a principle. Mr. President, what is a compromise? … It is a measure of mutual concession - a measure of mutual sacrifice.
The responsibility of this great measure passes from the hands of the committee, and from my hands. They know, and I know, that it is an awful and tremendous responsibility. I hope that you will meet it with a just [understanding] and a true appreciation of its [importance], and the [importance]of the consequences that may ensue from your decision one way or the other. The alternatives, I fear, which the measure presents, are [unity] and increased [disunity]. . . I believe from the bottom of my soul that [The Compromise of 1850] is the reunion of this Union. I believe it is the dove of peace, which, taking its aerial flight from the dome of the Capitol, carries the glad tidings of assured peace and restored harmony to all the remotest [boundaries] of this distracted land. I believe that it will be attended with all these [beneficial] effects. And now let us discard all resentment, all passions, all petty jealousies, all personal desires, all love of place, all hankerings after the [luxurious] crumbs which fall from the table of power. Let us forget popular fears, from whatever quarter they may spring. Let us go to the [clear] fountain of [pure] patriotism, and, performing a [serious purification], return [without] all selfish, sinister, and [dirty contamination], and think alone of our God, our country, our consciences, and our glorious Union - that Union without which we shall be torn into hostile fragments, and sooner or later become the victims of military despotism or foreign domination...
Let us look to our country and our cause, elevate ourselves to the dignity of pure and disinterested patriots, and save our country from all [approaching] dangers. What if, in the march of this nation to greatness and power, we should be buried beneath the wheels that propel it onward! ...
I call upon all the South. Sir, we have had hard words, bitter words, bitter thoughts, unpleasant feelings toward each other in the progress of this great measure. Let us forget them. Let us sacrifice these feelings. Let us go to the altar of our country and swear, as the oath was taken of old, that we will stand by her; that we will support her; that we will uphold her Constitution; that we will preserve her union; and that we will pass this great, comprehensive, and healing system of measures, which will hush all the jarring elements and bring peace and tranquillity to our homes.

John C. Calhoun

John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), was a prominent U.S. statesman and spokesman for the slave-plantation system of the antebellum South. As a young congressman from South Carolina, he helped steer the United States into war with Great Britain and established the Second Bank of the United States. Calhoun went on to serve as U.S. secretary of war, vice president and briefly as secretary of state. As a longtime South Carolina senator, he opposed the Mexican-American War and the admission of California as a free state, and was [famous] as a leading voice for those seeking to secure the institution of slavery.

A candidate for the presidency in 1824, Calhoun was the object of bitter partisan attacks from other contenders. Dropping out of the race, he settled for the vice presidency and was twice elected to that position. But after Andrew Jackson’s assumption of the presidency in 1829, Calhoun found himself isolated politically in national affairs.

At first he supported the Tariff of 1828, the so-called Tariff of Abominations, but responding to his constituents’ criticism of the measure and believing that the tariff was being unfairly assessed on the agrarian South for the benefit of an industrializing North, Calhoun drafted for the South Carolina legislature his Exposition and Protest. In this essay he claimed original sovereignty for the people acting through the states and advocated state veto or nullification of any national law that was held to [affect] on minority interests.

By then he had resigned from the vice presidency and had been elected a senator from South Carolina. For the rest of his life he defended the slave-plantation system against a growing antislavery stance in the free states. He continued his [harsh] defense of slavery even after he joined the Tyler administration as secretary of state. In that position he laid the groundwork for the annexation of Texas and the settlement of the Oregon boundary with Great Britain. Reelected to the Senate in 1845, he opposed the Mexican-American War because he felt American victory would result in territorial concessions that would place the Union at jeopardy. Similarly he opposed the admission of California as a free state, and the free-soil provision in the Oregon territorial bill. In his last address to the Senate, he foretold the disruption of the Union unless the slave states were given adequate and permanent protection for their institutions.

Calhoun, along with Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and Andrew Jackson, dominated American political life from 1815 to 1850. A tall, spare individual, Calhoun was a gifted debater, an original thinker in political theory, and a person of broad learning who was especially well read in philosophy, history, and contemporary economic and social issues. His public appearance as the so-called Cast Iron Man was belied by his personal warmth and affectionate nature in private life.

John C. Calhoun Addresses the Senate March 4, 1850

John C. Calhoun’s speech to the Senate in 1850 in opposition to California entering the Union as a free state.

If the question [of California being admitted as free or slave state] is not now settled, it is uncertain whether it ever can hereafter be; and we, as the representatives of the States of this Union regarded as governments, should come to a distinct understanding as to our respective views, in order to [confirm] whether the great questions at issue can be settled or not. If you who represent the stronger portion, can not agree to settle them on the broad principle of justice and duty, say so; and let the States we both represent agree to separate and part in peace.
If you are unwilling we should part in peace, tell us so; and we shall know what to do when you reduce the question to submission or resistance. If you remain silent, you will [force] us to infer by your acts what you intend. In that case California will become the test question. If you admit her under all the difficulties that oppose her admission, you compel us to infer that you intend to exclude us from the whole of the acquired Territories, with the intention of destroying the equilibrium between the two sections. We should be blind not to perceive in that case that your real objects are power and [tribute], and infatuated, not to act accordingly.
I have now, senators, done my duty in expressing my opinions fully, freely, and [honestly] on this [serious] occasion. In doing so I have been governed by the motives which have governed me in all the stages of the agitation of the slavery question since its [beginning]. I have [pushed] myself during the whole period to [stop it from being debated], with the intention of saving the Union if it could be done; and if it could not, to save the section where it has pleased providence to cast my lot, and which I sincerely believe has justice and the Constitution on its side. Having faithfully done my duty to the best of my ability, both to the Union and my [region], throughout this agitation, I shall have the consolation, let what will come, that I am free from all responsibility.

Daniel Webster

American statesman Daniel Webster (1782-1852) earned fame for his staunch support of the federal government and his skills as an orator. Originally a lawyer, Webster was elected a New Hampshire congressman in 1813. He later served as a Massachusetts congressman and senator, becoming a leading proponent of federal action to stimulate the economy through protective tariffs, transportation improvements and a national bank. Despite his standing as a Whig leader, Webster was never able to secure his party’s nomination for the U.S. presidency.

Webster gained fame for his championship of a strong federal government, though he had been a rather extreme advocate of states’ rights at the beginning of his forty years in public life. As a congressman (1813-1817) from New Hampshire, he opposed the War of 1812 and hinted at nullification. As a congressman (1823-1827) and a senator (1827-1841, 1845-1850) from Massachusetts, he became a leading proponent of federal action to stimulate the economy through protective tariffs, transportation improvements, and a national bank. He won renown as the defender of the Constitution by denouncing nullification when South Carolina adopted it. Long an opponent of slavery extension, he spoke against annexing Texas and against going to war with Mexico. He held, however, that no law was needed to prevent the further extension of slavery when he urged the Compromise of 1850 as a Union-saving measure.

As an orator, Webster had no equal among his American contemporaries. With the magic of the spoken word he moved judges and juries, visitors and colleagues in Congress, and vast audiences gathered for special occasions. His great occasional addresses, commemorating such historic events as the landing of the Pilgrims and the Battle of Bunker Hill, gave dramatic expression to his nationalism and conservatism. He reached the height of his eloquence in his reply to the nullificationist Robert Y. Hayne, a reply that concluded with the words ‘Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!’

In politics Webster along with Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun formed what was called a ‘great triumvirate,’ though the three seldom combined except in opposition to President Andrew Jackson. All were ambitious for the presidency.

Although identified with the Boston aristocracy, Webster had come from a plain New Hampshire farm background. A college education, at Dartmouth, helped him to rise in the world. Despite his large income he remained constantly in debt as a result of high living, unfortunate land speculations, and expenses as a gentleman farmer.

Daniel Webster Addresses the SenateMarch 7, 1850

Webster’s speech, given three days after Calhoun’s was in argument for keeping the Union together.

Mr. President, - I wish to speak to-day, not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a Northern man, but as an American, and a member of the Senate of the United States. It is fortunate that there is a Senate of the United States; a body not yet moved from its [respectability], not lost to a just sense of its own dignity and its own high responsibilities, and a body to which the country looks, with confidence, for wise, moderate, patriotic, and healing counsels. It is not to be denied that we live in the midst of strong agitations, and are surrounded by very considerable dangers to our institutions and our government.
Now, Sir, upon the general nature and influence of slavery there exists a wide difference of opinion between the northern portion of this country and the southern. It is said on the one side, that, although not the subject of any injunction or direct prohibition in the New Testament, slavery is a wrong; that it is founded merely in the right of the strongest; and that is an oppression, like unjust wars…
I hear with distress and anguish the word “secession,” especially when it falls from the lips of those who are patriotic, and known to the country, and known all over the world, for their political services. Secession! Peaceable secession! Sir, your eyes and mine are never destined to see that miracle . . . Peaceable secession is an utter impossibility. Is the great Constitution under which we live, covering this whole country,—is it to be thawed and melted away by secession, as the snows on the mountain melt under the influence of a vernal sun, disappear almost unobserved and run off? No, Sir! No, Sir! I will not state what might produce the disruption of the Union; but, Sir, I see as plainly as I see the sun in heaven what that disruption itself must produce; I see that it must produce war, and such a war as I will not describe . . .
Never did there devolve on any generation of men higher trusts than now devolve upon us, for the preservation of this Constitution and the harmony and peace of all who are destined to live under it. Let us make our generation one of the strongest and brightest links in that golden chain which is destined, I fondly believe, to grapple the people of all the States to this Constitution for ages to come.

Clay, Calhoun and Webster Notes

Clay / Who are they?
Where are they from regionally?
Position on slavery?
Opinion of the Compromise of 1850? Why? / Three main ideas from their speech
1.
2.
3.
Calhoun / Who are they?
Where are they from regionally?
Position on slavery?
Opinion of the Compromise of 1850? Why? / Three main ideas from their speech
1.
2.
3.
Webster / Who are they?
Where are they from regionally?
Position on slavery?
Opinion of the Compromise of 1850? Why? / Three main ideas from their speech
1.
2.
3.