Henry Clay

Kentucky's Great Compromiser who shaped the Senate as young Speaker and brokered three national settlements.

Overview

Elected Speaker on his first day in the House in 1811, Clay transformed the office into a position of real power, stacking committees with War Hawks who pushed the country into the War of 1812. He negotiated the Treaty of Ghent, sponsored the Missouri Compromise of 1820, promoted his American System of internal improvements and a national bank, founded the Whig Party, and ran for president three times. In the Senate he crafted the Compromise of 1850, delaying civil war for a decade. His ability to fashion middle ground, from 1820 to 1850, made him the most influential legislator of the century's first half.