Speech of Henry Clay, Delivered at Lexington, Kentucky, June 9, 1842
- Downloads
- Under 100
- First published
- 1842
- Pages
- 39
About this book
This pamphlet collects one of Henry Clay's many addresses delivered at Lexington, Kentucky, the city where he had built his law practice and his political base across most of his adult life. Clay was a master of the major public speech as a political tool, and his Lexington appearances often functioned as platform statements aimed at a national audience even when the immediate occasion was a local gathering of supporters or constituents. The Lexington crowds knew him as their senator, their congressman, their fellow Kentuckian, and their advocate for the Whig political vision he had helped to construct.
The major Clay speeches at Lexington across the 1830s and 1840s tend to take up the issues he was working in Washington at the time. The American System of protective tariffs, internal improvements, and the national bank. The slavery question and the various compromise proposals he was advocating. The relationship between the federal government and the states. The proper role of the United States in the world. Clay used his hometown audience to test arguments, to build support for measures he was about to introduce in Congress, and to defend his record from political attacks that were always coming from somewhere.
Clay's prose in his major speeches is in the formal nineteenth century rhetorical style, dense by modern standards but carefully constructed for oral delivery to a substantial audience and for subsequent print circulation through the partisan press. The arguments tend to be substantive, with extensive citation of historical and constitutional precedent, and the rhetorical structures are designed to leave the reader or listener with a clear sense of what Clay is asking and why he believes it matters.
For students of antebellum American politics, of nineteenth century political oratory, of the Whig Party and the development of the Republican Party that grew out of its collapse, or of the long debates over slavery and union that culminated in the Civil War, Clay's pamphlets are essential primary sources. This particular Lexington speech is one of many similar documents that fill the volumes of his collected works.
About the author
More from this genre
See all- D Devonshire WitchesDevonshire Witches
- S A Sketch of the History of OneontaA Sketch of the History of Oneonta
- O Observations on the Sermons of Elias HicksObservations on the Sermons of Elias Hicks
- Q The Quakers, Past and PresentThe Quakers, Past and Present
- S Sir Charles Warren and Spion KopSir Charles Warren and Spion Kop
- C Congregationalism in the Court SuburbCongregationalism in the Court Suburb
Books like this one
-
Speech of Henry Clay, at the Lexington Mass Meeting, 13th November, 1847
-
Speech of Mr. Clay, of Kentucky, on the Resolution to Expunge a Part of the Journal for the Session of 1833-1834
-
Reconstruction
-
A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 8, Part 3
-
Ex-President John Quincy Adams in Pittsburgh Address of Welcome
-
Second Thoughts are Best
Reviews and discussion
No ratings yet. Be the first reader to rate this book.
Rate this book
Pick a star, then sign in. Only readers who confirmed their email can rate.
No comments yet. Share a thought, a question or a favourite passage.
Copyright concern? Read our DMCA policy
Read or download
- EPUB 322 KB
-
KINDLE Send to Kindle Send
- Download the EPUB file to this device.
- Open Amazon's Send to Kindle page, sign in, and add the file. Open Send to Kindle (opens in a new tab)
On a phone: open the downloaded EPUB and share it to the Kindle app.
You can also email the file to your Kindle address (it ends in @kindle.com) from an email address you approved in your Amazon account.
- PDF 578 KB
- MOBI 561 KB
Downloads start right away. How to open EPUB on your phone
Book facts
- Author
- Henry Clay
- First published
- 1842
- Reading time
- About 55 minutes
- Pages
- 39
- Language
- English
- Genre
- History
- Formats
- PDF, EPUB, MOBI, Read online