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How Did Henry Clay Contribute To The Civil War

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Politics were was the most vital part of the Civil War, arguments over slavery, secession, and civil rights headed the political field. Henry Clay(1777-1852) was a powerful force in politics during and before the Civil War Era, Clay was a U.S. congressman, senator, presidential nominee, a foremost proponent of the “American System”. Clay’s experience in the politics gave him the name the “Great Compromiser” due to brokering important agreements during the Nullification Crisis and the issue of slavery. Clay was a dominant member of the Whig party and was a high ranking senator and representative in the House of Representatives, but Clay’s most important contribution to the Civil War were his deals to compromise over the status of slavery in …show more content…

Representative and Senator from Mississippi, also he was the twenty third U.S. Secretary of War. Davis was thrust into the Confederate presidency and often cited as one of the reasons the Confederacy weakened heavily, Davis had numerous problems including: lack of responsibility, lack of popular appeal, feuds with state governors and generals, political favoritism,inability to settle disagreements, choosing military matters over civil matters, and resistance to listen to public opinion. The only reason this awful president was elected was due to the fact he ran unopposed, his term was suppose to last six years. Jefferson Davis showed what a split in the United States would look like, separate countries fighting over extremely different ideals. If the Union hadn’t won and Jefferson wasn’t tried for treason, the Civil War would have divided the U.S between North and South. Charles Sumner(1811-1874) was almost the complete opposite of Jefferson Davis, Sumner was the leader of the Radical Republicans and strived to abolish slavery and bring equal rights to African-Americans. Sumner was constantly changing his political affiliation, but he always stood true to his belief in anti-slavery. Sumner’s main purpose was to fight the Southern slave owners who sought the continuation and expansion of slavery. Sumner’s greatest effect on the Civil War was when he almost got beaten to death by Preston Brooks on the Senate floor only a couple of days after giving his speech titled “The Crime Against Kansas” where characterized the attacker's cousin, South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler, as a pimp for slavery. After this assault took place, Sumner collapsed unconscious and couldn't return to senate for 4 years, he became a symbol throughout the North.

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Around the presidential election of 1824, the presidential candidates -John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and Andrew Jackson- took part in the “Corrupt Bargain”, an alliance made between Adams and Clay in order to secure Adams’ presidency. During the Electoral College, Jackson received 99 votes in front of Adams who received 84 votes, while Jackson did receive more votes, he had not gotten a majority of votes, so the House of Representatives were to choose the next president. The spokesman of the House of Representatives, Henry Clay, was to choose between the two candidates. Instead of choosing for the sake of the country, Clay chose to help himself, as Adams had offered him a position as the secretary of state. After Adams’ presidency was secured,

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Retrieved April 25, 2016, from http://www.historynet.com/why-the-south-lost-the-civil-war There was no specific author to this article; it was a collection of many historian 's opinions of Jefferson Davis and the outcome of the Civil War. It was a collection of pieces on why the South lost the war. I used the pieces that specifically named Davis as examples of some of the mishaps and bad decisions that were made during the war. This is different than the other pieces because it gives many different opinions on why the south

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Jackson vs. Clay Andrew Jackson vs. Henry Clay: Democracy and Development in Antebellum America is a book written by Harry L. Watson. Harry L. Watson writes the different stances of the presidential race in the Antebellum Era in America. He is very unbiased in his writing, clearly stating each presidential candidate. Andrew Jackson’s beliefs are clearly democratic, meaning he believed that a growing wealth and power in the business community may erode the equality of ordinary citizens. This party was also known as the ‘Jackson Party’.

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Abraham Lincoln would lead the Republican Party even though he did not win the south over in the election. He promised that he would save the Union no matter what the cost. This disconnect in policy would later lay the basis for the Civil War, which started in 1861. He never envisioned a proclamation or ending slavery but he was ultimately committed to saving the Union from the succeeding south. Lincoln gave into the antislavery Republicans toward the end of the war and finally decided to make slavery the true basis of the war.

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Davis participated in politics as a Unionist and Radical Republican. Davis served in the Constitutional Convention of 1866, but failed to become state senate of his old district. He became President of the Constitutional Convention of 1868 to 1869. Davis supported all types of political programs that would expand rights for blacks, divided the state, and have restricted the political rights of secessionists. In 1869, Davis ran against Andrew J. Hamilton for governor both were Republican.

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Stephen Douglas, an advocate of popular sovereignty, and Abraham Lincoln, a Republican candidate, were both running to represent Illinois in the United States Senate. These two men met in a sequence of seven debates before they battled for office of presidency in the election of 1858. Slavery eventually became the main issue discussed repeatedly in each of the debates, due to the Mexican War adding new territories left to be assessed as free soil or not. During this time, the Compromise of 1850 was a temporary fix to the sectional issues for the states that made the decision to participate in the extension of slavery. However, the Missouri Compromise of 1854 brought the issue back up again.

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Perhaps the most liberal and anti-slavery of the presidents during Kindred’s time period was John Quincy Adams. Adams was born into a family that never owned slaves and his mother, Abigail Adams, was vehemently opposed to slavery. He carried these values with him throughout his political career. As a member of the House of Representatives, he fought against the “gag rule” which prohibited any petitions regarding slavery from gaining any attention by the government (A Motion to Censure 1), and represented a group of slaves who had commandeered a Spanish ship in the Supreme Court case, United States v. The Amistad (Shelton 1). Not all of the presidents from this period were as forward thinking as Adams, though.

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Later on in his career, President Franklin Pierce made him secretary of War. It was probably his favorite job, and Davis helping President Pierce to bring important reforms to the military. When Pierce retired, he went back to the Senate. Davis spoke about North and South, urging peaceful between the two. In the 1860 presidential election, Davis opposed the Stephen A. Douglas, a person who endorse popular sovereignty, and supported John C. Breckinridge, who demanded federal government protection for slave holdings in the territories.

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Originally, as a new nation emerging, the United States was focused on building and stabilizing itself in order to seem powerful to foreign countries. However, as time went on, the North and the South disagreed over various issues and were eventually divided. Many events arose which worsened the split between the North and South after the Antebellum Era, resulting in the South seceding from the Union. The reason why Southern states seceded from the Union in 1860 and 1861 was the controversy over slavery between the North and the South. One main event that contributed to the controversy over slavery and the South’s secession was Abraham Lincoln’s election.

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The period after the civil war saw the United States of America economy transform to become a national economy and an industrial giant. The already existing industries quickly expanded and new ones emerged including steel manufacturing, electrical power, and petroleum refining. This period saw the rapid expansion of the railroad network which would subsequently connect even the remote parts of the country into the national economic grid essentially transforming the regional markets into a national economy. Following the economic expansion, the American society was greatly transformed creating a new crop of wealthy individuals and a dynamic middle class. Additionally, there was a vast expansion of blue collar job opportunities which quickly

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Throughout history, there have been a plethora of debatable individuals that have been studied profusely by historians. Each and every one has their own arguments for and against their beliefs, actions, and personal life. Possibly one of the most controversial figures of American history, Jefferson Davis had a tremendous impact on the United States of America and the short lived Confederate States of America before, during, and after the Civil War. Along with the majority of prominent dignitaries of the past, Jefferson Davis came from a relatively normal and conventional background.

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“Sumner identified two Democratic senators as the principal culprits in this crime” (https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/The_Caning_of_Senator_Charles_Sumner.htm In this oration he attacked the authors of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Charles Butler and Stephen A. Douglas. After the speech Butler’s nephew, Preston Brooks, was outraged by the speech and challenged Charles to a duel. After learning that duels of this manner were meant solely for men of equal status, Preston decided to beat Charles with his cane. So on May 22nd, Preston went to Charles at his desk and said “Mr. Sumner, I have read your speech twice over carefully. It is libel on North Carolina and Mr. Butler who is a relative of mine.”

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1121 Words | 5 Pages

There were many important Compromises between the years of 1820 and 1860, some that worked completely and some that didn’t. In the early nineteenth century, people were good at compromising and making things work for everyone. How long did perfect compromising actually last? Slavery began to split the nation apart, causing compromising to become hard to do.

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In the mid-1850s, the United States was being destroyed over the issue of slavery. The abolitionist development was getting to be progressively vocal, and tremendous contention concentrated on whether new states admitted to the Union would permit slavery. While blood was being spilled in Kansas, another violent assault stunned the country, particularly as it occurred on the floor of the United States Senate. On May 19, 1856, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, a noticeable voice in the abolitionism development, conveyed an energetic discourse reproving the compromises that helped sustain slavery and prompted the current showdowns in Kansas. Sumner started by upbraiding occupants of new states could choose whether to make slavery legal.

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Davis was the first and only president of the confederate states of America. Davis held office from 1861 until the collapse of the Confederacy at the end of the Civil War in the spring of 1865. Many years prior to the Civil War, he held numerous amounts of positions in the federal government. Before becoming a leader of the slave states in rebellion, he could’ve been viewed as a credible future President of the United States of America. One more accomplishment of Jefferson Davis is that he held together the Confederate Govt.

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