Today we're talking about Henry Clay. Hello welcome to the Daily Bellringer, please don't forget to subscribe and take a look at the questions down in the description. Henry Clay was one of the most dominant political figures in U.S. history. From the early to mid-1800s Clay was everywhere in American politics from being a Senator, Speaker of the House, and Secretary of State and even running for President of the United States three times. Clay became known as the Great Compromiser because he engineered three compromises that made possible the growth of The United States, expanded slavery, accelerated Indian removal and held off the Civil War for over four decades. Today I am here at Henry Clay's estate, Ashland, located in Lexington, Kentucky where Henry Clay and his wife Lucretia Hart Clay lived for over 40 years. Henry Clay was born April 12, 1777 in Hanover County Virginia the seventh of nine children born to John Clay and Elizabeth Clay. At the age of three Henry Clay's family home was ransacked by British troops as Clay was born in the midst of the American Revolution. Henry Clay's father, John, was a Baptist minister but died in 1781 when Henry was only about four years old. Clay's Mother Elizabeth soon remarried a successful planter, Henry Watkins, who provided for Henry's education. As a young man Clay caught the attention of George Wythe a professor at William and Mary College and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Clay became Wythe's secretary and Wythe trained Clay in political theory and law. In 1797 Clay was admitted to the Virginia State Bar as an attorney. Soon afterward, like many other Americans, Clay set his sights on the west and relocated from Virginia to Lexington, Kentucky where Clay foresaw a successful legal career dealing with land titles and ownership. In 1799, Henry married Lucretia Hart who was the daughter of a successful businessman in Lexington. Henry and Lucretia would be married for over 50 years and go on to have 11 children together. Not long after getting married, Clay's political career quickly took off as in 1803 he was elected to the Kentucky General Assembly and then soon after was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 1806, and by 1811 was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democratic-Republican where his magnetic personality and leadership qualities quickly had him chosen Speaker of the House, a position he held for most of his time in the House. Prior to the War of 1812, Clay was a leading Warhawk who was pushing for war with Britain and was upset about British impressment of American sailors and British interference with American trade. As the War of 1812 was fought, President James Madison chose Clay to be one of several negotiators to travel to Ghent Belgium to negotiate the Treaty of Ghent with the British which was signed on December 24, 1814. After the Treaty of Ghent, Clay returned to the House of Representatives and in 1820 was integral in forging the Missouri Compromise which addressed the issue of national growth and the place of slavery in it. The results of the compromise were a road map for expansion, the growth of slavery in the South, and further motivation for Indian removal. By the Election of 1824, Clay had his sights on winning the presidency but lost and was embroiled in what became known as the Corrupt Bargain taking the position of Secretary of State under President John Quincy Adams. In 1831 Clay was elected to the U.S Senate for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Here he continued to add to his resume of being a great negotiator as he helped to find a compromise with South Carolina who had locked horns with President Andrew Jackson over tariffs during the Nullification Crisis. Clay remained in the Senate and helped to establish the Whig party in opposition to Andrew Jackson's policies. Clay continued to launch campaigns for the White House but did not win the Whig nomination in 1840 and then lost in the general election of 1844 to James Polk. Clay opposed the Mexican-American War because he feared it would result in great territorial expansion and create conflict over the issue of slavery. One of Clay's Sons, Henry Clay Jr, was killed in battle during the Mexican-American War. Clay's concerns over national expansion and slavery were confirmed and the nation again faced division over the issue. Clay once again took the lead in finding a compromise to avoid conflict and pushed the issue of slavery down the road. The Compromise of 1850 allowed California to enter the Union as a free state and outlawed the slave trade in Washington D.C. but also significantly strengthened fugitive slave laws. By this point, Clay was over 70 years old and was battling tuberculosis. He announced his resignation from the Senate in 1851 and then died barely a year later on June 29, 1852, at the age of 75. Clay would be the first American to lie in state in the United States rotunda of the Capitol building. So with that hopefully you learned something, and thanks for watching.