Based on some discussion in Friday's Zoom chat, here's a thing.
Political Career of Henry Clay
1803-1806: Kentucky State Congressman (Democratic-Republican)
1806-1807: United States Senator for Kentucky (Democratic-Republican)
1807-1810: Kentucky State Congressman; Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives (Democratic-Republican)
1810-1810: United States Senator for Kentucky (Democratic-Republican)
1810-1811: United States Congressman (Democratic-Republican)
1811-1814, 1815-1820, 1820-1823: United States State Congressman; Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (Democratic-Republican)
1825-1829: United States Secretary of State (Democratic-Republican / National Republican)
1831-1837: United States Senator for Kentucky (National Republican / Whig)
1837-1841: President of the United States of America (Whig)
1841-1847: United States Secretary of the Treasury (Whig)
Presidents: William Henry Harrison (Whig), John Tyler (Independent), Daniel Webster (Whig)
1849-1852: United States Senator for Kentucky (Whig)
First emerging on the scene as a local Kentucky politician where he helped to influence the direction of the Kentucky Constitution, he quickly entered on the national scene in 1810 as a War-Hawk in favour of war with Britain. Because of this, in 1811 he was elected Speaker of the House, where he proved extremely powerful in part because President Madison proved reluctant to assert his power. Furthermore, Clay' political views were changed dramatically as a result of the war - he was now in favour of tariffs, internal improvements, a central bank, and other policies traditionally associated with the Federalists, and he successfully implemented these policies. Known as the American System, they quickly became defining parts of his agenda. Clay was also known as an avowed compromiser on the issue of slavery, by being the architect of the Missouri Compromise. Despite being in favour of gradual emancipation, he was opposed to worsening the great sectional divide caused by slavery.
in 1824, he ran for President of the United States. He was very firmly defeated, but John Quincy Adams, a candidate with some similar positions, became president after a hung Electoral College and a House selection, and Clay became his Secretary of State. Jacksonian Democrats, who felt Andrew Jackson was the popularly elected president, frustrated most of Adams' and Clay's agenda. Ultimately, in 1828, Adams was defeated, and Andrew Jackson became president. To Clay, this was nothing short of disaster. Viewing Andrew Jackson as a wannabe military dictator and comparing him to Caesar, Cromwell, and Bonaparte, Clay was a hard critic of Andrew Jackson and his expansion of executive power, and now Clay believed the constitution needed to be amended to weaken the power of the presidency, to prevent the fall of representative government. Weakening the executive became Clay's mission, till the end of his life. It was entirely because of an intense suspicion of executive power that the anti-Jacksonian party, which Clay was a leader of, came to be known as the Whigs.
The bitter enmity between Clay and Jackson, and the popularity of Jackson, resulted in Clay's political career being one of seemingly perpetual opposition. This changed, however, with the Panic of 1835, generally blamed on Jackson's economic policies. In 1836, Clay became the Whig candidate for president, and beat Van Buren and became President. In this role, he undid most of Jackson's economic policies, re-establishing a central bank. Furthermore, he got a constitutional amendment ratified, weakening the power of the presidency. The presidential veto could now be overridden by Congress with a simple majority, and if the president took no action on a bill within ten days it would become law. Executive functionaries whose appointment required congressional approval, including members of the cabinet, now required congressional approval for removal; this was to weaken the spoils system established by Jackson. The Secretary of the Treasury was now separated from the executive branch and was now appointed and dismissed solely by Congress; this was because, in Clay's mind, power of the treasury was a power of the purse, and therefore it was a power strictly belonging to Congress and outside the executive branch. Finally, a one term limit on the presidency was established. These amendments were not intended, as critics alleged, to make the presidency toothless; rather, it was to avoid an overactive president and save representative government. Despite these amendments, Clay proved a fairly powerful president, but his power came from his influence over Congress, as well as his heavy knowledge of the legislative process. His power was dependent on Congress, as indeed was the intention of his amendments. And so, Clay's term as president came to an end.
His successor proved to be William Henry Harrison. But Clay wasn't done yet, and through his mastery over Congress he was able to make himself Secretary of the Treasury. In this role, Clay was able to exert vast amount of influence over policy and government. In effect, he became head of government. But this came to an end when, in 1842, Harrison died and his vice president John Tyler became president. John Tyler proved to hold few of the Whig policies, and the result was deep division between him and his cabinet. However, he found it impossible to remove his cabinet members as Congress refused, and as a result Clay maintained vast amounts of power. The only place where Tyler could exert large amounts of power was in foreign policy. Ultimately, the 1844 election proved to be a three way election, and sectional tensions over slavery were worsened after annexing Texas became part of the platforms of both Tyler and the Democratic candidate Cass. Despite worry of another hung college, the Whigs under Daniel Webster were able to eke out a victory, and ultimately they were able to avoid an annexation of Texas. Worry over a hung college, all the same, caused the amendment of presidential elections to simplify their process. In these four years, Webster was able to exercise more power as President than Tyler did, though Clay remained a powerful figure if no longer the de facto head of government. Ultimately, after the 1846 midterms ended up giving a victory to the Democrats, Clay was finally dismissed by Congress. Clay went on to run for the Senate, and he ultimately died in this position.
Henry Clay is one of the most important politicians in American history, both before, during, and after his presidency. He proved influential for most of his career, and his legislative prowess as President has never been equalled in American history. He was able to weaken the presidency, and he made its domestic power dependent on Congress; the executive branch in the United States continues to be split between the president and the treasury secretary today, with power often fluctuating between the two, dependent on the party and the charisma of the people involved. His economic agenda is often praised. His ability to compromise has been much praise, but more recently many have noted that the issue he compromised on was slavery - hardly something worthy of praise.