Henry Clay - Senator, Congress & Quotes

(1777-1852)

Who Was Henry Clay?

Henry Clay worked as a frontier lawyer before becoming a Kentucky senator and then speaker of the House of Representatives. He was the Secretary of State under John Quincy Adams in the 1820s, later returning to Congress, and pushed for the Compromise of 1850, with overall conflicting stances on race and slavery.

Early Years

A distinguished political leader whose influence extended across both houses of Congress and to the White House, Henry Clay Sr. was born on April 12, 1777, in Hanover County, Virginia.

Clay was raised with modest wealth, the seventh of nine children born to Reverend John and Elizabeth Hudson Clay. His link to American history came at an early age. He was 3 years old when he watched the British troops ransack his family home.

In 1797, he was admitted to the Virginia bar. Then, like a number of ambitious young lawyers, Clay moved to Lexington, Kentucky, a hotbed of land-title lawsuits. Clay mingled well in his new home. He was sociable, didn't hide his tastes for drinking and gambling, and developed a deep love for horses.

Clay's standing in his adopted state was furthered by his marriage to Lucretia Hart, the daughter of a wealthy Lexington businessman, in 1799. The two remained married for more than 50 years, having 11 children together.

His political career kicked off in 1803 when he was elected to the Kentucky General Assembly. Voters gravitated toward Clay's Jeffersonian politics, which early on saw him push for a liberalization of the state's constitution. He also strongly opposed the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798.

In the private sector, his work as an attorney brought success and plenty of clients. One of those included Aaron Burr, whom Clay represented in 1806 in a wild case in which Burr was accused of planning an expedition into Spanish Territory and essentially trying to create a new empire. Clay had defended Burr out of a belief that he was innocent, but later, when it was revealed that Burr was guilty of the charges levied against him, Clay spurned his former client's attempts at making amends.

In 1806, the same year he took on the Burr case, Clay received his first taste of national politics when he was appointed to the U.S. Senate. He was just 29 years old.