Henry Clay
Henry Clay
Henry Clay, Sr.was an American lawyer and planter, politician, and skilled orator who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives. He served three non-consecutive terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives and served as Secretary of State under President John Quincy Adams from 1825 to 1829. Clay ran for the presidency in 1824, 1832 and 1844, while also seeking the Whig Party nomination in 1840 and 1848. However, he was unsuccessful...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth12 April 1777
CityHanover County, VA
CountryUnited States of America
Peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must.
All legislation is founded upon the principle of mutual concession.
The gentleman cannot have forgotten his own sentiment, uttered even on the floor of this House, Peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must.
Statistics are no substitute for judgment.
I have heard something said about allegiance to the South. I know no South, no North, no East, no West, to which I owe any allegiance.
The great advantage of our system of government over all others, is, that we have a written constitution, defining its limits, and prescribing its authorities; and that, however, for a time, faction may convulse the nation, and passion and party prejudice sway its functionaries, the season of reflection will recur, when calmly retracing their deeds, all aberrations from fundamental principle will be corrected.
Political parties serve to keep each other in check, one keenly watching the other.
A man must be a born fool who voluntarily engages in controversy with Mr. Adams on a question of fact. I doubt whether he was ever mistaken in his life.
I had rather be right than be President.
If you wish to avoid foreign collision, you had better abandon the ocean.
There is no power like oratory. Caesar controlled men by exciting their fears, Cicero by . . . swaying their passions. The influence of the one perished; that of the other continues to this day.
In a scheme of policy which is devised for a nation, we should not limit our views to its operation during a single year, or even for a short term of years. We should look at its operation for a considerable time, and in war as well as in peace.
In all cases where incidental powers are acted upon, the principal and incidental ought to be congenial with each other, and partake of a common nature. The incidental power ought to be strictly subordinate and limited to the end proposed to be obtained by the specified power. In other words, under the name of accomplishing one object which is specified, the power implied ought not to be made to embrace other objects, which are not specified in the constitution.
Whether we assert our rights by sea, or attempt their maintenance by land whithersoever we turn ourselves, this phantom incessantly pursues us. Already has it had too much influence on the councils of the nation.