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henry clay was born on april 12, 1777
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he was born on a platation with many siblings and 20 slaves.
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clay was admitted to the bar to practice law in 1797
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In November 1797, Clay relocated to Lexington, Kentucky,Clay came to own town lots and the Kentucky Hotel.
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clay began a new carrer in law in 1799
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clay married lucretia heart in lexington kentucky in 1799
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clay and his wife had 11 children in 1800-1821
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In 1803, although not old enough to be elected, Clay was made a representative of Fayette County in the Kentucky General Assembly as a legislator, Clay advocated a liberal interpretation of the state's constitution and initially the gradual emancipation of slavery in Kentucky
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Clay's influence in Kentucky state politics was such that in 1806 the Kentucky legislature elected him to the Senate seat
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When Clay returned to Kentucky in 1807, he was elected the Speaker of the state House of Representatives
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On January 4, 1809 Clay and Marshall nearly came to blows on the Assembly floor and Clay challenged Marshall to a duel, which then took place on January 19. clay grazed marshall and marshall shot clay in the thigh
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In the summer of 1811, Clay was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He was chosen Speaker of the House on the first day of his first session
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By 1812, Clay owned a productive 600-acre (240 ha) plantation, which he called "Ashland," and numerous slaves to work the land.[3] He held 60 slaves at the peak of operations, and likely produced tobacco and hemp, the two chief commodity crops of the Bluegrass Region.
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Henry Clay helped establish and became president in 1816 of the American Colonization Society, a group that wanted to establish a colony for free American blacks in Africa
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Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun helped to pass the Tariff of 1816 as part of the national economic plan Clay called "The American System,". it was designed to allow the fledgling American manufacturing sector, largely centered on the eastern seaboard, to compete with British manufacturing through the creation of tariffs.
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In 1820 a dispute erupted over the extension of slavery in Missouri Territory. Clay helped settle this dispute by gaining Congressional approval for a plan called the "Missouri Compromise".
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Clay used his political clout to secure the victory for Adams.his maneuver was called a "corrupt bargain". Clay was eliminated from contention; the top three were Jackson, Adams, and Crawford. Clay, who was Speaker of the House, supported Adams, and his endorsement ultimately secured Adams' win in the House.
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After the passage of the Tariff of 1828, dubbed the "tariff of abominations" which raised tariffs considerably in an attempt to protect fledgling factories built under previous tariff legislation, South Carolina declared its right to nullify federal tariff legislation and stopped assessing the tariff on imports.In 1833, Clay helped to broker a deal in Congress to lower the tariff gradually, known as the Compromise Tariff of 1833.
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As Secretary of State, Clay lived with his family and slaves in Decatur House on Lafayette Square. As he was preparing to return to Lexington in 1829, his slave Charlotte Dupuy sued Clay for her freedom and that of her two children, based on a promise by an earlier owner.
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lucretia heart dies at the age of 83 in 1864