Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/268

 CLAY

CLAY

jority. On Dec. 1, 1817, he was again elected to the speakership by an almost unanimous vote. President Monroe's veto of the internal improve- ment appropriation bill incurred tlie opposition of Mr. Clay, whose charges against the adminis- tration were attributed by some to disapjioint- ment at not receiving the portfolio of state. In

1818 he interested himself in behalf of the South American nations, then contending for independ- ence, and in congress he demanded that the neu- trality law of 1817 be repealed, and a minister be sent to the united provinces of Rio de la Plata, rather than commissioners, as proposed bj- the President. He ci'iticized General Jackson's con- duct of the Florida war, and in a strong speech in the house denounced as inhuman Jackson's M'holesale execution of Indians. This had the effect of making a bitter enemy of Jackson, who was the nation's military hero, and marks the beginning of the decline in Clay's popularity. In

1819 he was returned to congress and to the speakership and in this, the 16tli congress, con- tinued his aggressive warfare against the admin- istration, censuring it forgiving vij) Texas, which he claimed to belong to the United States by reason of the Louisiana purchase; and further urging the recognition of the independence of the South American republics. He supported Senator Thomas's' Missouri compromise, which provided for the admission of the state with slavery but excluded slavery from all territory acquired by the Louisiana imrchase north of 36°, SiV. When Missouri asked for admittance with a constitution which should recognize slavery and also prevent free negroes and mulattoes from coming into the state, the house of representa- tives, on motion of Mr. Clay, referred the subject to a committee of which he was made chairman. This committee, conjointly with one from the senate, reported a resolution, conditioning the admission of the state on a provision that no law be made preventing settlers of any description from coming into the state who might then or thereafter become citizens of the United States. This was Mr. Clay's part in the Missouri compro- mise, which gained for him the cognomen, '" the great pacificator." Mr. Clay, on retiring from congress at the close of the first session, May 15, 1820, announced that his financial affairs de- manded his presence in Kentucky, and when congress reassembled, Nov. 13, 1820, Representa- tive John W. Taylor of New York was elected speaker ad interim. Mr. Clay took the chair Jan. 16, 1821, and at the adjournment of congress, March 3, 1821, he resumed his law practice and his duties as counsel in Ohio and Kentucky for the United States bank. In 1822 he was again elected representative in congress and on the assembling of the 18th congress, Dec. 1, 1823, he

was chosen sjjeaker. He advocated a tariff law, internal improvements and a liberal construction of constitutional power, even going so far as to advocate the sending of a commissioner to the struggling people of Greece. In 1824 he was the candidate of the new Republican party for president and in the electoral college he received thirty-seven votes for president and two for vice- president. The election being thrown into the house of representatives, Mr. Clay gave his influ- ence to John Quincy Adams, who was elected. In making up his cabinet, Mr. Adams made Claj' his secretary of state and this led to the charge of "bargain and corruption," by the supporters of Jackson and Crawford. The controversy led to a bloodless duel between Clay and John Ran- dolph, April 8, 1826. As secretary of state he arranged favorable treaties with Great Britain and the various European and South American governments, and at the close of the administra- tion, March 3, 1829, he retired to his farm at Ashland and visited several southern and western states, where he addressed the people on current political questions. In 1831 he was elected to the United States senate for a full term and took his seat in the 22d congress, Dec. 5, 1831. During the same month he was nominated by the Repub- lican National convention as its candidate for the presidency, with John Sergeant of Pennsylvania for vice-president. In the senate Mr. Clay sup- ported the " American system " of tariff for pro- tection, in .sjDite of the general opinion that the rapid reduction of the public debt justified a radical reduction in the tariff. He favored dis- tributing the proceeds from the .sale of public lands among the states, and pressed the bill re- newing the charter of the United States bank through both houses, but it was vetoed by the President. In the election of November, 1833, Mr. Clay was defeated, receiving only forty-nine electoral votes against 219 for Jackson. On Feb. 12, 1833, he introduced in the senate a compromise bill providing for a gradual reduction of the tariff, which passed botli houses and was signed by the President. On the passage of the biU South Caro- lina repealed her act of 1832, which had declared the tariff laws null and void. When the Presi- dent ordered the removal of the government deposits from the United States bank, Mr. Clay presented to the senate resolutions censuring him for ' ' assuming a power not conferred by the constitution and laws." These resolutions, with a few modifications, were adopted and called from the President an indignant protest, which was met bj* a forcible denunciation from Mr. Clay of the President's course, and the resolutions were sustained. In the 23d congress. Senator Clay continued his attacks on the measures of the administration; prevented the President