Henry Clay came forward again and introduced the Compromise Tariff Law. It was called a compromise because it gave each side a part of what it wished. Calhoun and other Carolinians favored it, because by this law the tariff was reduced very greatly. It was carried through Congress. The law made unnecessary the warlike preparations of both the president and South Carolina, and again Henry Clay was hailed by the people as "pacificator" or peacemaker.
HENRY CLAY
From a daguerreotype owned by Garrett Brown, Jr., Chicago
The founder of the Whig party
151. Henry Clay the Founder of the Whig Party. But Henry Clay was not only a peacemaker. He was now a great statesman, and like Hamilton and Jefferson he led in forming a part of the people into a political party. It was called the Whig party.
In 1824, before there was a Whig party, Clay ran for president, but was beaten. Again in 1832, just as the new party was being formed, he ran a second time. Although he was beaten for the presidency by Andrew Jackson, he was the life and soul of his party. It was his eloquence, the music of his words, that made men Whigs.
On one occasion Clay spoke on the question of the abolition of slavery. Some one said that this might hurt his chances of being president. Clay replied: "I had rather be right than be president."
Unfortunate Henry Clay
Finally, in 1844, he was again the Whig candidate, but he was defeated for the third time. When the Whig party had a good chance of electing a president, they nominated somebody else. When they had a poor chance they nominated Henry Clay!