Mention the name of Henry Clay and the first association that comes to mind is “The great compromiser”, he being the author of the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Every school boys knows that!
However, according to “Henry Clay, The Essential American” by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler (2010), “… Illinois senator Jesse Thomas stepped up with a plan…not just the unrestricted admission of both Maine and Missouri but also a demarcation of the Louisiana Purchase at latitude 36* 30’, which was the southern border of Missouri. Except for Missouri, all states formed north of that line would be free; any states south of it had the option to choose slavery.”
However, when John Randoph “demanded a reconsideration of the issue…Through a crafty use of parliamentary procedure, the Speaker [of the House Clay] made sure that the Missouri Compromise passed Congress.”
Much of what Clay did as a young Speaker of the House as a war hawk in 1812 and voting not to renew the license of the First Bank of the United States were actions totally contrary to stances he would take later in his career.
To Clay’s great credit, for which he paid a high political price later in his career, he spoke out against the actions of then General Andrew Jackson who turned his charge to chastise Seminole Indians in Spanish held Florida into an attack on the Spanish, actually occupying Pensacola and executing two British citizens without due process and on dubious grounds.
Clay stepped down momentarily as Speaker to give a three hour speech in which “Clay warned that allowing Jackson’s behavior ‘ to pass, without a solemn expression of the disapprobation of this House’ would repeat the sad histories of Greece, of Rome, and of France. All of those glorious, free nations had relaxed restraints on their militaries and had paid the ultimate price for doing so. American’s had a duty to prevent ‘a triumph of the military over the civil authority – a triumph over the powers of this house a triumph over the constitution of the land.’”
Obviously in Clay’s case, with age came wisdom. Jackson never forgave him…not being the forgiving kind.
