INTRODUCTION: Henry Clay.
Henry Clay was born in Virginia at the year of Burgoyne's surrender, 1777. His father died when he was four years old. Little Henry lived near the "Slashes" the name given to a low flat region and went to school in a log cabin. He worked on a farm to do his share in the support of the family. Sometimes he would be seen barefooted behind the plow or else riding a horse to mill. From this he was called the "Mill boy of the Slashes." At fourteen he was a clerk in a store but he was made for better use.
He was put in the office of a famous lawyer who was a clerk in one of Virginia's courts. He went to Richmond and studied law there. He formed a debating club and was made leader. From here he went to Lexington. There his rise in law was rapid, his fame grew and he was known as a lawyer who seldom lost his case.
He was elected to the House of Representatives and was made speaker. As speaker he helped to bring on the War of 1812.
INTRODUCTION: John C. Calhoun.
Calhoun was born in the same year as Webster, 1782. He was born in South Carolina. His parents were Scotch-Irish. He learned more from the woods than he did from books and filled his memory before people could fill it. At the age of eighteen he began to prepare for college with the aid of his brother-in-law, a Presbyterian minister. Two years later he entered Yale College, studied hard and soon graduated with much honor. He studied law for three years, a year and a half in his own state and a year and a half in Connecticut. He began to practice law in South Carolina. He did not have much success. Perhaps the law was too dry for him or perhaps because he was soon to be elected to Congress.
In 1811 he was married and elected to Congress.
Henry Clay (Speaker) immediately put Calhoun on an important committee.
The next act will be John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster and Henry Clay speaking of the war of 1812.