Henry Clay - Autograph Document Signed, 1811  , Court Case with Elijah Craig

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Henry Clay - Autograph Document Signed, 1811  , Court Case with Elijah Craig:
$750.00

Henry Clay - Autograph Document Signed, 1811, Court Case w/Elijah CraigHenry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777– June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and planter, statesman, and skilled orator who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives. After serving three non-consecutive terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives, he served as Secretary of State under President John Quincy Adams. Clay ran for the presidency in 1824, 1832 and 1844, while also seeking his party\'s nomination in 1840 and 1848. Though he was unsuccessful in all of his attempts to reach his nation\'s highest office, Clay was an important national figure from 1811 to his death in 1852. He founded the Whig Party, one of the two major parties during the Second Party System.

Clay was born in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1777, but moved to Lexington, Kentucky, in 1797. In Lexington, he established a flourishing legal career and won election to the state legislature as a Democratic-Republican. After two brief stints in the United States Senate, Clay election to the United States House of Representatives in 1810 and was elected Speaker of the House in 1811. A leading war hawk, Speaker Clay favored war with Britain and played a significant role in leading the nation into the War of 1812. In 1814, Clay\'s tenure as Speaker was interrupted when Clay traveled to Europe, where he helped to negotiate the Treaty of Ghent with the British. After the war, Clay developed his American System, which called for an increase in tariffs to foster industry in the United States, the use of federal funding to build and maintain infrastructure, and a strong national bank. Clay ran for president in 1824 and lost, finishing fourth in a four-man contest. No candidate received an electoral majority, and so the election was decided in the House of Representatives. Clay maneuvered House voting in favor of Adams, who appointed him as Secretary of State. Opposing candidate Andrew Jackson denounced the actions of Clay and Adams as part of a \"corrupt bargain\", and defeated Adams in the 1828 election, ending Clay\'s term as Secretary of State.

Clay returned to the Senate in 1831. He continued to advocate his American System, and became a leader of the opposition to President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic Party. President Jackson opposed federally subsidized internal improvements and a national bank as a threat to states\' rights, and the president used his veto power to defeat many of Clay\'s proposals. In 1832, Clay ran for president as a candidate of the National Republican Party, losing to Jackson. Following the election, the National Republicans united with other opponents of Jackson to form the Whig Party, which remained one of the two major American political parties until after Clay\'s death. In 1844, Clay won the Whig Party\'s presidential nomination. Clay\'s opposition to the annexation of Texas, partly over fears that such an annexation would inflame the slavery issue, hurt his campaign, and Democrat James K. Polk won the election. Clay later opposed the Mexican–American War, which resulted in part from the Texas annexation. Clay returned to the Senate for a final term, where he helped broker a compromise over the status of slavery in the Mexican Cession.

Known as \"The Great Compromiser\", Clay brokered important agreements during the Nullification Crisis and on the slavery issue. As part of the \"Great Triumvirate\" or \"Immortal Trio,\" along with his colleagues Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun, he was instrumental in formulating the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Compromise Tariff of 1833, and the Compromise of 1850 to ease sectional tensions. He was viewed as the primary representative of Western interests in this group, and was given the names \"Harry of the West\" and \"The Western Star.\" As a plantation owner, Clay held slaves during his lifetime, but freed them in his will. [Wikipedia]Offered here is an Autograph Document Signed in the text, 1p, 8vo, July 3, 1811 being a statement of monies paid and owed in a noted case dating back to 1802. It is rare to find anything of Clay’s referring to his law practice or legal career. The case referenced here is Davidson and Goddard vs Joel & Elijah Craig* for the sum of 1,355 pounds for goods supplied but not paid for. This must have been Clay’s final statement to Davidson and Goddard.Accompanied by a reproduction giclee image of Clay and a COA from The Kreisman Gallery.

*Elijah Craig (1738/1743 – May 18, 1808) was a Baptist preacher in Virginia, who became an educator and capitalist entrepreneur in the area of Virginia that later became the state of Kentucky. He has sometimes, although rather dubiously, been credited with the invention of bourbon whiskey.

Note: This case, Davidson & Goddard vs Craig is described in the “Supplement of The Papers of Henry Clay” on page 3.