Three Time Loser: The Great Compromiser

Discouraged by the Tyler administration, Henry Clay nevertheless saw opportunity coming in 1844.  Though Tyler wanted to be re-elected, no party wanted him.  He had left the Democratic Party and betrayed the Whig Party.  It looked like Martin Van Buren would be the Democratic nominee in 1844 and Clay the Whig.  Clay liked his chances.  Despite the ongoing ruckus about annexing Texas, neither Van Buren nor Clay were in favor of that.  It would be a policy argument, the American System vs. Jacksonian Democracy.  Once again, events turned against Clay.

Though Van Buren received the majority of the votes for the nomination at the Democratic Convention, he could not secure the two-third required.  Nor could any of the other initial contenders.  Then, someone suggested James Knox Polk.  Polk, the first dark horse candidate, was selected on the 9th ballot.  Unlike Van Buren, Polk favored the annexation of Texas.  President Tyler, who was running an independent campaign that supported annexation, dropped out of the race in favor of Polk.  The election now became a referendum on the Texas question and the country voted for annexation.  Henry Clay was now a three-time loser for the presidency.  Even so, he was not yet done.

Clay had taken Mexico at its word that a war would commence if Texas was annexed.  Not only would it lead to war with Mexico, but it would exacerbate the slavery issue.  Despite being a slave owner, Clay viewed slavery as morally wrong and had argued for gradual emancipation.  This half-measure on his part was appreciated by neither the abolitionist of the North nor the slave owners of the South.  However, it did demonstrate why he was called the Great Compromiser.  Indeed, he had a long track record of shepherding compromises through Congress.

The Missouri Compromise (1820) allowed Missouri to join the Union as a slave state, but offset that by admitting Maine as a free state.  Further, it set a boundary between slave and free states.  It was kicking the can down the road but quelled the hot tempers of the moment.

The Nullification Crisis (1832) saw South Carolina claiming a right to ignore Federal Tariffs.  President Jackson proposed invading South Carolina if that should happen.  Jackson's vice president, John C. Calhoun, resigned during the growing divide; he was a South Carolinian and one of the strongest voices for nullification.  Clay, despite his long rivalry with Jackson, sided against the Nullifiers.  He did not like Jackson's solution of a Force Bill and military invasion.  Instead, he guided the passage of a reduction in the tariff, which mollified the Nullifiers.  The hostilities subsided and Clay was once again key in maintaining domestic tranquility.

The Compromise of 1850 resolved what to do with the vast territory acquired in the Mexican-American War.  Where President Taylor was in favor of adding California and New Mexico as free states, the South was strongly opposed to such a move.  Once again, Clay assembled legislation that offered something for everyone, but also a bitter cost.  California could be a free state but the fugitive slave laws would be strengthened.  Texas would lose much of its claimed territory in exchange for debt relief.  New Mexico would be a territory, not a state.  Taylor's untimely death and replacement by Millard Filmore saw the compromised signed into law.

In 1848, Clay had tried a final run for the presidency, but General Zachary Taylor won the Whig nomination.  Yes, as in 1840, Clay lost the nomination to a general who died in office.  He had sought the presidency in 1824, 1832, 1840, 1844, and 1848.  Though he never made it to the presidency, he is a hugely consequential American.  Clay died in 1852 and became the first person to lie in state in the Capitol rotunda.