Compromise of 1850

About the Author

Henry Clay was born in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1777. After earning a law license in 1797, he relocated to Lexington, Kentucky. He gained a reputation as an adept trial lawyer before entering local politics. Elected to the state legislature in 1803, he interrupted his service to act as a defense counsel for the former vice president Aaron Burr in the latter's trial for treason. After serving as speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives and filling out two unexpired terms in the U.S. Senate, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and became its speaker in 1811. Clay's charismatic personality and dramatic oratorical style made him a natural leader. As the guiding force behind the so-called War Hawks in Congress, Clay helped spur the United States into the War of 1812, against Great Britain. He went on to serve as a peace commissioner in 1814, helping to negotiate the Treaty of Ghent.

During his years in Congress, Clay promoted his American System, which entailed protective tariffs for manufacturers and federally supported internal improvements (including construction and the maintenance of roads, rivers, and canals). His vision was national, rather than sectional—though he was a slaveholder, he championed the interests of the United States as a whole rather than those of his native South alone. His role in shaping the Missouri Compromise in 1820 strengthened his stature as a conciliator between the free and slave states.

In 1824 Clay ran for the presidency, coming in last in a four-way election that was ultimately decided in the House of Representatives. When Clay swung his crucial support to John Quincy Adams, charges that a “corrupt bargain” had been struck were raised by supporters of Andrew Jackson, who had received the most popular votes. Criticism only intensified after Adams selected Clay as his secretary of state. Adams's presidency never recovered from these charges, which damaged Clay's career as well. Clay's second bid for the White House, against Jackson, failed in 1832. His next move was to help found the Whig Party, in opposition to Jackson's Democratic Party. He ran as the Whig candidate for president in 1844, losing narrowly to the Democrat James K. Polk.

Denied another Whig nomination in 1848, Clay announced his retirement from politics. He changed his mind, however, and returned to the Senate a year later. Even though he was in declining health, he decided to use his still-considerable influence to attempt to end the crisis over slavery. Speaking for hours before a packed Senate gallery on February 5, 1850, the seventy-two-year-old Clay predicted a long and bloody civil war if his compromise measures failed to pass. Clay lived to see his proposals become law in modified form. He died in Washington, D.C., on June 29, 1852.