Henry Clay photographed in 1849 by Mathew Brady
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HENRY CLAY
Famous Orator, Congressman, Senator, Secretary of State
April 12, 1777• June 29, 1852
- Birthplace: Western frontier of Virginia, in Hanover County, Virginia
- Parents: John Clay (Baptist Minister) and Elizabeth Hudson
- Brothers and Sisters: Henry was the fourth son, and next to the youngest child, in a family of eight (three sisters and four other brothers)
- 1796: Began studying law in the office of Attorney-General Robert Brooke, in Richmond, Virginia and secured his license to practice law one year later
- 1797: Moved to Lexington, Kentucky where he became a criminal lawyer
- Political Career:
- 1806-1807: Elected and served in United States Senate, reelected in 1809
- 1809: Clay introduced resolutions supporting domestic manufacturing but was challenged by Humphrey Marshall, who attacked and insulted Clay, who then challenged him to a duel, which was fought in Indiana, across the river from Louisville. Both were wounded but survived
- 1810: Elected to House of Representatives (Ashland District, Lexington, KY)
- 1814: Participated in negotiations at Ghent, ending the 1814 war with Britain
- 1824: Lost presidential election to John Quincy Adams (6th President)
- March 7, 1825: Appointed Secretary of State during Adams' Administration
- 1849: Returned to the Senate and introduced numerous resolutions aimed at Northern and Southern radicals to abandon certain activities that threatened the Union and warned the South against succession, declaring that no such right existed and that he would advocate force in opposing it
- Date and Place of Marriage: Married to Lucretia Hart (a daughter of Colonel Thomas Hart of Henderson's Transylvania Company) in 1799
- Children: Six daughters and five sons
- Age at Death: 75 years
- Place of Death: Washington, D.C.
- Burial Place: Lexington Cemetery, Kentucky
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