Henry Clay

Henry Clay was born in Hanover County Virginia on April 12, 1777. He attended public schools and he later became the apprentice of a respected lawyer in Richmond, Virginia named George Wythe. After Clay was admitted to the bar in 1797 (at the age of twenty) he moved to Lexington, Kentucky where he opened his own law practice. He quickly made a name for himself with his brilliance in and out of the court room. He did not stay at his law practice long before he moved to politics. Clay was an American Statesman who severed in both the House of Representatives and Senate. He also made five failed bids at the US Presidency. Although he never became president he had a profound effect on our country. He applied himself to many different issues such as slavery, politics, and protecting domestic industries.

Clay held many different important positions through out his career. At the age of twenty-two he was elected to the Constitutional Convention in Kentucky, Four years later at the age of twenty-six he was elected to Kentucky's State Legislature, and at the age of twenty-nine (a full year before the legal age of thirty stated in the Constitution) he was appointed to fill a vacant term in the United States Senate. Clay did all of these things before he turned the age of thirty. After leaving the Senate in 1807, he again served in the Kentucky House of Representatives, and was chosen as Speaker of the House. A year later, he was elected to another term in the United States Senate. In 1811 at the age of thirty-four, he was elected to the US House of Representatives and was chosen Speaker of the House on the first day of session with a nearly 2 to1 vote. One of the reasons for his popularity was his activity as a War Hawk in Congress promoting the war of 1812. during the next fourteen years he will be reelected to the House of Representatives and as Speaker of the House five times. He also served in John Q. Adams cabinet from 1825 to 1829 as Secretary of State. Many people believe that Clay's appointment to Adams' cabinet was won through a bargaining between Adams and Clay. Clay had conceded the race and asked his Delegates in the House of Representatives to support Adams instead. Clays term as Secretary of State ended with the Election of a new president Andrew Jackson. In 1831 clay Returned to the United States Senate where he severed until 1842, and again from 1849 until his death in 1852.