CLAY, HENRY, was born in Hanover county, Virginia, April 12, 1777. He was the seventh son of a clergyman who died when Henry was very young, leaving his widow and family but scantily provided for. Having received a common school education, Henry obtained a situation as copying clerk in the chancery court of Richmond. Here he probably received a certain amount of initiation in legal pro ceedings, so that, although he was nineteen years of age when he formally commenced the study of the law, he was when only twenty admitted to practise at the bar. The tide of migration was then setting strongly westward, and the young advocate thought that the fertile valleys of the west offered for him also a promising field of labour. Ile accordingly removed to Lexington in Kentucky, and there, in October 1799, he fairly commenced his legal career. As an advo cate ho quickly achieved a marked success. Young Cloy, it was soon seen, not only possessed great natural ability and doubled its value by constant diligence, but had the more marketable talent of knowing how to manage a jury. Yet though be found himself on the road to fortune, his ambition was directed rather towards political than pro 'essional success. The convention for framing a constitution for the date of Kentucky soon afforded him the opportunity h3 desired of taking a prominent part in political movements. His advocacy of a provipion for the gradual abolition of slavery entailed on him some temporary unpopularity, but this was removed by his opposition to measures which were regarded as an encroachment on the part of the central government, and he was at the next election (1803) returned to the state legislature.
His political career was now fairly begun, and for nearly fifty years his life may be said to have been devoted to the service of his country.
His first election to Congress was in 1806, but it was only for the remaining portion of a term ; and in 1807 he was again elected to the General Assembly of Kentucky, of which he was chosen speaker.; au office he held till be was in 1809 elected for an unexpired term of two years to the senate of the United States. In 1811 he was sent as a representative to Congress, and on the meeting of the House of Representatives he received the very remarkable honour of being elected speaker, though he was now for the first time a member of the house. But his speeches in the senate, and his conduct as speaker of the Kentucky Assembly, had established his reputation; and so well satisfied were the members with their choice, that he was five times re-elected Speaker. During this period he took a prominent part in the great questions of the day, but especially distinguished himself by his earnest denunciations of the English claims to right of search and other maritime prerogatives; and as he was one of the prime instigators to the war with England, so during its continuance be remained one of its strongest advocates. He was in 1814 appointed,
avowedly in consequence of the leading part he had taken in the discussions on the war, one of the commissioners to negotiate the treaty of peace ; and for him is claimed the credit of having by his adroitness obtained for America some advantageous concessions. In France he was treated with much distinction, and on his return to America he was at once re-elected to Congress.
He now directed his energies to borne legislation; but when the question of South American independence was mooted, Clay eagerly urged its immediate recognition : he was already promulgating his favourite idea of the eradication of every species of European authority from the American continent. While engaged in a decided course of opposition to the general policy of President Monroe, there were two great measures which specially occupied his mind. One was the establishment of a national system of internal improvements, which the president opposed as unconstitutional, but which Clay successfully vindicated from that objection ; the other was the return to a modified protective system. Both of these measures were carried, and the suc cessful issue of his exertions placed Clay in the estimation of a large portion of his countrymen in the very first rank of American states men. He was now looked to by many as the probable successor to the presidential chair, and it was well understood that he himself coveted that elevated post. That he might be in a better position to bear the increased expenditure its acceptance would necessarily entail, he resigned in 1819 his seat in Congress and returned to the active pursuit of his profession, in which he promptly regained a highly lucrative practice. But when the conventions began to consider the claims of the candidates for the presidency, it was apparent that Clay would not be chosen • his name was therefore withdrawn, and he returned in 1823 to House of Representatives, by whom he was immediately restored to his place as speaker. Three candidates went to the vote for the presidency, but as neither could obtain the abso lute majority required by law, the election lay ultimately in Congress, and there Clay exerted all his influence in favour of Adams, who was chosen; • and be in return appointed Clay secretary of state. This office held until 1827, and during his occupancy of it discharged its duties with marked diligence and vigour. The independence of the republics of Central as well as South America was promptly recognised by him, and he exerted every nerve to further the dogma of the annihilation of European influence in American affairs. His conduct as secretary was the subject of virulent attacks by his political opponents; and on one occasion he was provoked to challenge Mr.