Home » History » American Presidents » HENRY CLAY: THE GREAT COMPROMISER, PART II

HENRY CLAY: THE GREAT COMPROMISER, PART II

© John S. Cooper

Now in Congress, and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Henry Clay joined with other young, newly elected members and became a War Hawk. The War Hawks were nationalistic and wanted England to be forced to stop attacking American shipping and to honor the American flag and American rights on the high seas. The War Hawks also accused England of inciting Indians to attack American settlements in the west.

Clay used his position as Speaker to place other War Hawks in important positions on House committees. This added to the growing movement that favored war with England, and led to the eventual declaration of war in 1812. As a result of his leadership throughout the resulting war, President Madison appointed Clay as one of the five peace commissioners to negotiate a peace treaty with England. The Treaty of Ghent was signed in 1815 and Clay returned home. President Madison offered him the positions of Secretary of War and Minister to Russia, but he declined both positions and instead was re-elected to the House of Representatives, and was again chosen as Speaker. He was hoping newly elected President Monroe would name him Secretary of State, but Monroe picked John Quincy Adams instead. Monroe did offer Clay the position of Secretary of War, but Clay again declined the position.

It was during this period that Clay earned the lasting enmity of Andrew Jackson. Clay criticized Jackson’s invasion of Spanish Florida during the Seminole War, and further criticized his mistreatment of the Seminole Indians. During a speech in the House, Clay compared Jackson to the greatest military dictators in history. From this time on, Clay and Jackson became each other’s bitterest opponents for the rest of their political lives.

Clay is most remembered for his role as the “Great Compromiser” or the “Great Pacificator” because of his role in hammering out crucial compromises at various points in our early history. His first such opportunity came during the debates over the admission of Missouri to the Union, which eventually resulted in the Missouri Compromise.

The debate in 1820 concerned slavery, but Clay’s main concern was not slavery but the preservation of the Union. Missouri was asking for admission as a slave state, which would upset the even balance of slave and free states in the U.S. Senate. The compromise Clay worked out as tempers flared and heated words were exchanged was to admit Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. Maine, up to this point, had been part of Massachusetts and called the Northern District of Massachusetts. For a long time, the people in the Northern District had felt neglected by Massachusetts and wanted to separate. Everyone agreed, and Maine was formed. The last portion of the compromise was to divide the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase lands into slave and free territory along the line of 36.5 degrees north latitude. This compromise prevented further conflict over the slavery issue for thirty years, and gained Clay even greater fame as a legislator and leader.

The copyright of the article HENRY CLAY: THE GREAT COMPROMISER, PART II in American Presidents is owned by . Permission to republish HENRY CLAY: THE GREAT COMPROMISER, PART II in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.