Henry Clay
Henry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777 – June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He was the seventh House speaker as well as the ninth secretary of state. He unsuccessfully ran for president in the 1824, 1832, and 1844 elections. He helped found both the National Republican Party and the Whig Party. For his role in defusing sectional crises, he earned the appellation of the "Great Compromiser" and was part of the "Great Triumvirate" of Congressmen, alongside fellow Whig Daniel Webster and Democrat John C. Calhoun.
Time in Lexington[edit | edit source]
Legal career[edit | edit source]
In November 1797, Clay relocated to Lexington, Kentucky, near where his parents and siblings resided. The Bluegrass region, with Lexington at its center, had quickly grown in the preceding decades but had only recently stopped being under the threat of Native American raids. Lexington was an established town that hosted Transylvania University, the first university west of the Appalachian Mountains. Having already passed the Virginia Bar, Clay quickly received a Kentucky license to practice law. After apprenticing himself to Kentucky attorneys such as George Nicholas, John Breckenridge, and James Brown, Clay established his own law practice, frequently working on debt collections and land disputes. Clay soon established a reputation for strong legal ability and courtroom oratory. In 1805, he was appointed to the faculty of Transylvania University where he taught, among others, future Kentucky Governor Robert P. Letcher and Robert Todd, the future father-in-law of Abraham Lincoln.
Clay's most notable client was Aaron Burr, who was indicted for treason in the Burr conspiracy. Clay and his law partner John Allen successfully defended Burr without a fee in 1807. Thomas Jefferson later convinced Clay that Burr had been guilty of the charges. Clay's legal practice was light after his election to Congress. In the 1823 case Green v. Biddle, Clay submitted the Supreme Court's first amicus curiae. However, he lost that case.
Personal life[edit | edit source]
On April 11, 1799, Clay married Lucretia Hart (1781–1864) at the Hart home in Lexington, Kentucky. Her father, Colonel Thomas Hart, was an early settler of Kentucky and a prominent businessman. Hart proved to be an important business connection for Clay, as he helped Clay gain new clients and grow in professional stature. Hart was the namesake and grand-uncle of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton and was also related to James Brown, a prominent Louisiana politician, and Isaac Shelby, the first governor of Kentucky. Henry and Lucretia would remain married until his death in 1852; she lived until 1864, dying at the age of 83. Both are buried at Lexington Cemetery.
They initially lived in Lexington, but in 1804 they began building a plantation outside of Lexington known as Ashland. The Ashland estate eventually encompassed over 500 acres (200 ha), with numerous outbuildings such as a smokehouse, a greenhouse, and several barns. There were 122 Enslaved people at the estate during Clay's lifetime, with about 50 people needed for farming and the household. He planted crops such as corn, wheat, and rye, as well as hemp, the chief crop of the Bluegrass region. Clay also took a strong interest in thoroughbred racing and imported livestock such as Arabian horses, Maltese donkeys, and Hereford cattle. Though Clay suffered some financial issues during economic downturns, he never fell deeply into debt and ultimately left his children a large inheritance. After the deaths of Anne and Susan, Clay and Lucretia raised several grandchildren at Ashland.