Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union [Paperback]

Robert V. Remini (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 1993

"Great biography leaves an indelible view of the subject. After Remini's masterful portrait, Clay is unforgettable." —Donald B. Cole, Newsday

Among the nineteenth-century Americans, few commanded the reverence and respect accorded to Henry Clay of Kentucky. As orator and as Speaker of the House for longer than any man in the century, he wielded great power, a compelling presence in Congress who helped preserve the Union in the antebellum period. Remini portrays both the statesman and the private man, a man whose family life was painfully torn and who burned with ambition for the office he could not reach, the presidency.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

By the distinguished biographer of Andrew Jackson, this is the first major study of the "great compromiser" in half a century. Henry Clay's prolonged feud with Jackson and his failed quest for the White House are traced in detail, with Remini showing how the unfounded charge of political collusion when Clay was appointed secretary of State contributed significantly to that failure. The author explains Clay's role in the Missouri Compromise of 1820; and later, when the country faced the slavery question over territory acquired in the Mexican War, his role in shaping the Compromise of 1850. Thus tension between North and South was eased and civil war delayed for a decade. Remini points out that many historians have argued that had secession and war occurred in 1850 the South "undoubtedly" would have won its independence. This majestic work brings into sharp focus the private and public Henry Clay (1777-1852): gambler, drinker, duelist, as well as brilliant orator, a man with a "gift for the outrageous," and savior of the Union. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Award-winning historian Remini has written the definitive biography on controversial 19th-century politician Clay of Kentucky. Remini's work, which uses a rich array of primary sources, especially letters uncovered by the Henry Clay Papers publication project, surpasses earlier studies of Clay by Glyndon Van Deusen ( The Life of Henry Clay , Greenwood, 1979) and Clement Eaton ( Henry Clay & the Art of American Politics , 1962). All facets of Clay's life are examined, especially much new information about his private life and how it influenced his public political career. Remini analyzes why an accomplished political leader such as Clay could never be elected president, though he ran for the office five times. Clay's political success came from his extraordinary talents as the engineer who directed three major compromises between 1820 and 1850 through Congress, thus averting civil strife and keeping the Union together. This is an excellently written, superbly crafted, and long-needed biography that is suitable for academic and large public libraries.
- Charles C. Hay III, Eastern Kentucky Univ. Archives, Richmond
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 880 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (November 17, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393310884
• ISBN-13: 978-0393310887
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #447,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Star of the West", June 27, 2002

By 

T. J. Graczewski "tgraczewski" (Burlingame, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (Paperback)

The New York Times has called Robert V. Remini "our foremost Jacksonian scholar". No matter how one feels about Remini's scholarship or historical interpretations, he is undeniably the most prolific Jacksonian historian of our time - our any other time, for that matter.

In reading his celebrated three-volume biography of Andrew Jackson and other related works, I'd come to think of Remini as something of a "Jackson bigot." The reverence Remini has for Jackson practically oozes from the pages of his books, while the many injustices and dubious actions undertaken by the seventh president throughout his lifetime are treated as the unfortunate, but excusable episodes of a passionate and often impulsive man (some examples might include: the Treaty of Fort Jackson and other Indian treaties; the unauthorized invasion of Florida in 1818 and his conduct during that campaign; the forced removal of the Cherokees from Georgia; etc.). Indeed, I have often thought that had Remini lived in Jackson's lifetime he may have supplanted Francis Blair as editor of the pro-Jackson newspaper, the Washington Globe. Thus, given such an undisguised admiration for Jackson and his trenchant democratic principles, I was curious to see how Remini would treat his arch-villain: the indomitable Henry Clay of Kentucky.

To my great surprise and pleasure, Remini presents an exceptionally balanced and thorough account of "Prince Hal" and his feud with Andrew Jackson and the Democrats as nominal head of the Whig party. The author pays homage to Clay's tremendous oratorical and political abilities and openly laments the fact that Clay's overweening desire for the presidency ultimately deprived the nation of his services in that office.

Clay's career in national pubic service was long and extraordinarily influential from start to finish. Beginning in 1811, when he was sworn in as a freshman Congressmen, he was immediately elected Speaker of the House owing to his leadership position in a group of young, nationalistic and anti-British Republicans known as the "War Hawks." Remini credits Clay with single handedly changing the fundamental nature of the Speaker's position (which he held for longer than anyone in the 19th century), turning it from that of mundane legislative traffic cop to a leadership role of setting the political agenda and steering national policy. Clay reveled in the rough-and-tumble nature of the House, where his quick wit and speaking abilities were distinct competitive advantages, and openly preferred it to the more rarified and sedate proceedings of the Senate. And when circumstances ultimately brought Clay's talents to the US Senate, he again shaped that body in his own image, ushering in a period of great political debate that is still considered its "golden era."

In the end, Clay failed in his endeavor to shape national domestic policy to include federally funded internal improvements and, much to his chagrin and Remini's, he never had the opportunity to leave his imprint on the executive branch. Nevertheless, as Remini's superb biography makes clear, the legislative branch was Henry Clay's domain, and during his remarkable career in that body (off and on from 1811 to 1852) he did more to refine and redefine the tone, process and importance of Congress than any other American statesman in history.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most important failed politician in US history, August 7, 2000

By 

Robert James (Culver City, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (Paperback)

Robert Remini is far better known as the biographer of Henry Clay's great enemy, Andrew Jackson. But in turning to a biography of Henry Clay, who lost every presidential race he entered, Remini has found a subject just as worthy of attention. Both Clay and Jackson belonged to the generation of American leaders who succeeded those Founding Fathers; like their contemporaries Daniel Webster, Martin Van Buren and John C. Calhoun, they charted the course of the United States from its roots as a rather elitist republic into a more democratized republic. Benefiting from the expansion in the franchise following the War of 1812, all five of these men vied for the Presidency at one time or another, and all five were involved in the greatest debates of the antebellum world: slavery, abolition, the formation of the second party system of the Whigs and the Democrats, the expansion westward, and the attempts to steer a course away from civil war. In order to understand Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, one needs to know the life of his great hero, Henry Clay. There is simply no substitute for this book, and Remini tells his story with gusto and intelligence. I knew from the first page that it would be fascinating, as Remini tells the deathbed story of Andrew Jackson. Someone asked Jackson if he had left anything undone. Jackson supposedly replied, "Yes. I didn't shoot Henry Clay, and I didn't hang John C. Calhoun." A great story, about an era when politicians were also statesmen.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There Should be A 6th Star for This Book!, June 28, 2000

By 

Philip K. Warner (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (Paperback)

Over the past year, I've read biographies of all the presidents from Washington to Polk, plus biographies of other important figures of the revolutionary through the antebellum period and this book is simply the best I've read! Robert Remini is by far the best historian of the period and his writing style should be the model for all students of history. I thoroughly enjoyed his biography of Andrew Jackson and his monograph "Van Buren and the Making of the Demoncratic Party". But this biography of Henry Clay is, to me, his masterpiece! It's more than just a history of Henry Clay's life...it is an encyclopedia of all the major events in American History from 1800 to 1850. Clay was by far the most important figure of the 1st half of the 19th Century. There is not one event or issue that Henry Clay did not affect...either in his opposition to or support for. Remini lays Clay's life bare. All his faults (and there were many!) and all his strengths. Remini's Jackson came off as a very mean spirited and unsympathetic figure. Remini's Clay came off as very mean spirited, but extremely likeable. Remini's reference to Clay as the "Statesman for the Union" is a very fitting moniker.