Lot 256
Clay, Henry (1777-1852) American lawyer and politician from Kentucky, famed for his oratory skills. He served three different terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives, was Secretary of State from 1825 to 1829., and made three bids for the presidency (1824, 1832 and 1844). Clay, Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun formed the "Great Triumvirate"; they were instrumental in formulating the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850.
Autograph letter signed ("H. Clay"), 2 pp, 10 x 8 in., Ashland, Jan. 9, 1845. Marked "Confidential." To Justice Joseph Story asking him to reconsider his retirement from the Supreme Court. In part: "…I was truly distressed to learn…that you entertain serious thoughts of finally retiring from the Bench. I sincerely hope that you will reconsider the matter, and come to a different conclusion. You are the only remaining member of what the Supreme Court of the U. States, in its bright and better days, once was. And your retirement from it, as it now is, would be a very great National misfortune." Appointed Associate Justice in 1811, Story remained on the Bench until his death on September 10, 1845.
Clay does not take gracefully his recent loss to Polk in the Presidential election: "The result of the Presidential election surprised every body but those who knew of the fraudulent means employed to produce it. I shared the common surprise; but the event affects me less by its direct influence on me than by the sympathy excited for our Country and friends….Never was so fine an opportunity wantonly lost of uniting the various sections of our Country upon leading measures of National policy, that of protection especially. You, in the free States, are chiefly to be reproached. Henceforward you ought to cease to up[b]raid us with slavery….I wish now to avoid taking too despondent a view of public affairs; but in spite of all my efforts, very few glimpses of light and hope breaka through the darkness of the gloomy future…."
Clay was expected to defeat Polk, but he came out against the annexation of Texas, a position that hurt his chances in the South. Polk, on the other hand, came out squarely for annexation. In the North, where Clay expected his stance on Texas to gain him votes, he was undercut by a third-party candidate, James G. Birney of Michigan, who drew much of the abolitionist vote because Clay and Polk were both slave owners. Birney didn't carry any one state but managed to tip New York, and the election, to Polk. Thus, Clay's complaint about "the free states."
Estimated Value $2,000 - 3,000.
Sotheby's New York, Nov 25, 1997, lot 228.
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| Realized $1,560 |
