Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union

At almost 800 pages and about a relatively obscure period in American history, reading this book is no light endeavor. Yet, it is extremely readable and replete with fascinating information about a very important period in our nation's history: that between the presidencies of the Virginia dynasty and the Civil War. Among the many larger-than-life characters of those days, few commanded a greater presence than Henry Clay. In a long-storied congressional career, this man did as much as any president to direct the nation's course and avoid Civil War for as long as it was possible.Knowing that the author has written extensively on Andrew Jackson, I wouldn't have been surprised if this biography might have been somewhat biased against Clay, one of Jackson's deadliest enemies. It was a very nice surprise to see that Remini was extremely balanced in this study, perhaps reflecting the way most people of that day reacted to Clay themselves. Perhaps one wanted to hate him and his policies and his unabashed ambition to be president, yet on a personal level, the man was impossible not to like (except for a few hard cases like Jackson). To read about the Golden Age of our Senate, when giants trod the earth, is kind of saddening when we see what has become of that institution since then. In the days of Clay and Jackson, Remini shows us the beginnings of constitutional issues that we may take for granted now but were of intense importance in those days. Issues like the federal government's role in financing infrastructure and the chartering of a national central bank were issues that decided and ended political careers back then. Certainly slavery, its expansion and the desire to abolish is what we are most familiar with about this period. Remini does an excellent job in outlining all the positions that were taken by the abolitionists, the southern leadership and those caught in-between masterfully. Even many who advocated abolition were not necessarily doing it with the best interests of the slaves themselves in mind. Clay's own position against slavery, clearly stated by himself and the author, would be less than pleasing to today's reader, but it was not uncommon.There is a lot to learn in this book and it will give the reader a new appreciation for one of the giants this country has produced.

Simply the best biography of an American political figure I've ever read. Remini, the preeminent Jacksonain scholar today, combines first-rate historical research with wonderful anecdotes that flow seamlessly in and out of the larger historical context of the Antebellum era. Not merely a terrific, well written biography of one figure, Remini's work also draws the larger issues of Clay's era into sharp focus: from the early American republic and the nationalistic fervor that followed the War of 1812, through the Bank War of the Jackson administration, to the crisis over slavery and sectionalism. Remini's mastery of the issues of the Jacksonian era and the political titans that populated that exciting time in America's history makes for wonderful reading. Although I disagree with some of Remini's interpretations, his biography of Henry Clay should be considered the definitive work on the subject for decades to come. I only hope Remini continues to produce fine biographies like this one of Clay, and his other fine works on Jackson and Daniel Webster.

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.

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.

Remini provides a fascinating, detailed account of the early republic's leading nationalist, covering the totality of the subject - his personal and political life. The honest analysis of the personal weaknesses of the ambitious politician explains how the Whig Party leader of 20 years could be the most popular statesman in the country, yet not be trusted and rewarded by the public with the reigns of executive authority. The reader is struck with Clay's brilliance and steady optimism, even with the unquenched ambition and through his agonizingly slow death. A great read for antebellum history buffs!