Clay, Henry. Born in 1777. American orator and statesman. Clay was educated for the law, and entered the House of Representatives in 1811, for which he was seven times elected speaker, and later secretary of state and United States senator. Supported the war with Great Britain on the right of search in 1812, and acted as plenipotentiary in the negotiations preceding the Treaty of Ghent (1814). Henry Clay was author of the Missouri Compromise, restricting slavery to the southern states (1821), and of the Omnibus Bill, which postponed the Civil War for 10 years. Clay was three times an unsuccessful candidate for president. Died June 29, 1852.

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