Henry Clay
Austin Coates
Biography
Henry Clay, was born April 12th, I777, in Hanover county, Virginia. He early devoted himself to the law, and shortly after moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where he soon obtained a lucrative practice and political influence enough to be elected to the state legislature. In 1806, he was elected to Congress and again in 18O9 he was chosen senator for a term of two years, during which period he distinguished himself by several brilliant speeches. In 1811, he was sent to the House of Representatives, where he was immediately elected Speaker. He was a strenuous supporter of the War with Great Britain at first but once he realized the war was pointless, In 1814, he was appointed one of the commissioners to negotiate the treaty of peace at Ghent, where he proved his worth and knowledge. Returning home in 1815, he was again elected to Congress, and again chosen Speaker. He retained this position by re-election until 1821. He exerted all his talents in favor of the independence of South America, and labored hard to eradicate all European influence from the American continent.
Clay, however, is best known as the author of the famous "Missouri Compromise," and his defence of the "American system of protection to native industry against the free-trade principles of Southern politicians."
Henry Clay ran for president in 1824, and finished fourth. The election had no clear electoral college winner, so the new president had to be determined by the House of Representatives. Clay, threw his support to John Adams, who won the vote in the House, defeating Andrew Jackson. Adams
then named Clay as his secretary of state. Jackson and his supporters were outraged, and charged that Adams and Clay had made a "corrupt bargain."
The charge was probably baseless, as Clay had an intense dislike for Jackson and his politics anyway, and would not have needed the bribe of a job to support Adams over Jackson. But the election of 1824 went down in history as The Corrupt Bargain.
Andrew Jackson was elected president in 1828. With the end of his term as secretary of state, Clay returned to his farm in Kentucky. His retirement from politics was brief, as the voters of Kentucky elected him to the U.S. Senate in 1831.
In 1832 Clay ran for president again, and was defeated by his enemy Andrew Jackson.
The anti-Jackson Clay campaign of 1832 was the beginning of the Whig Party in American politics. Clay sought the Whig nomination for president in 1836 and 1840, both times losing to William Henry Harrison, who was finally elected in 1840. Harrison died after only a month in office, and was replaced by his vice president, John Tyler.
Clay was outraged by some of Tyler's actions, and resigned from the senate in 1842 and returned to Kentucky. He ran again for president in 1844, losing to James K Polk. It appeared that he had left politics for good, but Kentucky voters sent him back to the senate in 1849.As one of his last actions, In 1850, with the question raised of whether California should become part of the U.S. as either a slave state or a free state, Clay stepped to the negotiating table once more to stave off bloodshed. In one fell swoop Clay introduced a bill that allowed California to enter the Union as a non-slave state, without an additional slave state as compensation. Clay's influences and motivation were mainly powered by his own believes and he looked up to politicians such as John Adams who were alive during his time period and believed in the same ideas as him. Most of his motivation was stimulated through his own beliefs and acted upon because he felt strongly about his views and ideas. Rather than learning than other people so much, Clay found out for himself how he felt about ideas and that why he was so influential.
"I Would Rather Be Right Than President"
Summation
"Who is Barrack Obama?"
Compromise Speech
speaker-Henry Clay
occasion- meeting regarding new compromise that Taylor regarded as not actually being a compromise
audience-Zachary Taylor
purpose-explain to him what a compromise is, what it does, and how it works
subject-compromise
tone-blunt,disapproval
most effective rhetorical strategies with explanation of effect-Sarcasm: creates a feeling of discomfort and shows that Clay is not naïve to the situation and is not in the mood to play around. Rather than just presenting the information the sarcasm creates a sense of negativity(which Clay wants)
Works Cited
http://www.essaysinhistory.com/review/2011/69
http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/zachary-taylor
http://literarydevices.net/sarcasm/
http://www.biography.com/people/henry-clay-9250385
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/biographies/henry-clay/
https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/clay-henry