A Supplement to the Address of Henry Clay to the Public, Which Was Published in December, 1827

Henry Clay was one of the most consequential American politicians of the first half of the nineteenth century, and almost none of that consequence came from elected office at the highest level. He ran for president several times and never won. What he did win was the speakership of the House of Representatives at the age of thirty four, a long Senate career, the secretaryship of state under John Quincy Adams, and a reputation as the great compromiser who held the union together through three sectional crises that almost tore it apart.

This particular pamphlet is one of many Clay published over his career to defend his record from political attacks or to clarify his positions on the issues of the day. Clay was a relentless public communicator long before that was a routine part of political life. He printed addresses, supplements to addresses, defenses, and responses, and his collected works run to many volumes. The Supplement to the Address of Henry Clay to the Public is one such document, written to extend or correct an earlier statement and aimed at the literate political class of his era.

For readers interested in antebellum American political culture, primary documents like this one are valuable. They show how a major statesman framed his own record in his own words, before historians and biographers got hold of it. Clay’s prose is formal in the nineteenth century manner but he writes with directness and a clear argumentative line. Anyone studying the Compromise of 1820, the Compromise of 1850, the American System of internal improvements, or the long sectional debate over slavery will find Clay’s pamphlets useful background reading.