Abstracts Law

Henry Clay and the Peculiar Institution

by Michael Alexander Boeding

The major concern of this study is an attempt to analyze the attitudes.of Henry Clay, United States Congressman and Senator from Kentucky, 1807-1852, and three time presidential candidate, concerning the institution of slavery by examining its effects upon his political career from 1798 to 1850. The major conclusions of this study are that early in his life Clay made an intellectual commitment that slavery was wrong and maintained this abstract view of the institution until his death. However, Clay never took an active stand against slavery for three reasons: he believed that an antislavery stand would destroy his political career; he realized the explosiveness of the slavery issue as early as 1799, and his misguided love for the Union forced him to attempt to suppress the issue; and Clay was a racist who did not wish to see the United States populated with a sizable number of free blacks.