Clay was a slaveholder, a kind master--but through his entire public
life an open advocate of emancipation. He probably received his early
predilections against slavery from his association with Chancellor
Wythe, before removing from Virginia, as indeed the best part of his
education probably came from personal contact with that able man. The
intellectual forces of the border slave States were arrayed in favor of
emancipation, until, as Clay writes with some feeling in 1849, they were
driven to an opposite course "by the violent and indiscreet course of
ultra abolitionists in the North"; but Clay remained to his death
hopeful that by peaceable means his country might be rid of this great
evil. In the letter above quoted, writing of his failure to establish a
system of gradual emancipation in Kentucky, he says:--
"It is a consoling reflection that although a system of gradual
emancipation cannot be established, slavery is destined inevitably to
extinction by the operation of peaceful and natural causes. And it is
also gratifying to believe that there will not be probably much
difference in the period of its existence, whether it terminates legally
or naturally. The chief difference in the two modes is that according to
the first, we should take hold of the institution intelligently and
dispose of it cautiously and safely; while according to the other it
will some day or other take hold of us, and constrain us in some manner
or other to get rid of it."
As early as 1798, he made his first political speeches in Kentucky
advocating an amendment to the State Constitution, providing for the
gradual emancipation of the slaves. Referring to the failure to adopt
this amendment, he said in a speech delivered in the capital of Kentucky
in 1829:--
"I shall never cease to regret a decision, the effects of which have
been to place us in the rear of our neighbors who are exempt from
slavery, in the state of agriculture, the progress of manufactures, the
advance of improvements, and the general progress of society."
In these days, when public men who should be leaders bend to what they
believe to be the popular wishes, the example of Clay, in his bold
disregard of the prejudices and property interests of his constituents,
is inspiring.
George W. Prentice was sent from New England to Kentucky to write a life
of Clay, and writing in 1830 he says:--
"Whenever a slave brought an action at law for his liberty, Mr. Clay
volunteered as his advocate, and it is said that in the whole course of
his practice he never failed to obtain a verdict in the slave's
favor.... He has been the slaves' friend through life. In all stations
he has pleaded the cause of African freedom without fear from high or
low. To him more than to any other individual is to be ascribed the
great revolution which has taken place upon this subject--a revolution
whose wheels must continue to move onward till they reach the goal of
universal freedom."
Three years before this was written, Clay in a speech before the
Colonization Society said:--
"If I could be instrumental in eradicating this deepest stain upon the
character of my country, and removing all cause of reproach on account
of it by foreign nations; if I could only be instrumental in ridding of
this foul blot that revered State which gave me birth, or that not less
beloved State which kindly adopted me as her son, I would not exchange
the proud satisfaction which I should enjoy for the honor of all the
triumphs ever decreed to the most successful conqueror."
He longed to add the imperial domain of Texas to this country, but
feared that it would so strengthen the slave power as to endanger the
Union; and when finally he yielded to the inevitable, the Free-Soilers
threw their votes to Birney and thus defeated Clay for the Presidency.
He deprecated the war with Mexico, yet gave his favorite son as a
soldier, who fell at Buena Vista. He stood for the reception of
anti-slavery petitions by Congress, against the violent opposition of
the leading men of his own section. He continued steadfast to the end,
writing in 1849 that if slavery were, as claimed, a blessing, "the
principle on which it is maintained would require that one portion of
the white race should be reduced to bondage to serve another portion of
the same race, when black subjects of slavery could not be obtained." He
proposed reasonable schemes for gradual emancipation and deportation,
which would, if adopted, have averted the war and settled peaceably the
serious problem. He warned the Southerners in 1849 that their demands
were unreasonable, and would "lead to the formation of a sectional
Northern party, which will sooner or later take permanent and exclusive
possession of the Government."
Seeming inconsistencies in Mr. Clay's record on this subject will
disappear with a full understanding of the difficulties of his position.
Living in a State midway between the North and South, where slavery
existed in its mildest and least objectionable form, yet fully alive to
its evils, recognizing that the grave problem requiring solution was not
alone slavery, but the presence among a free people of a numerous,
fecund, servile, alien race; realizing that one section of the country,
then relatively too powerful to be ignored, was ready to withdraw from
the Union rather than to submit to laws that would endanger slavery;
loving the Union with an ardor not excelled by that of any public man in
our history; wishing and striving for the emancipation of the slaves,
yet too loyal to the Union to follow the more zealous advocates of
freedom in their "higher law than the Constitution" crusade,--Mr. Clay
in his whole course on this question was consistent and patriotic in the
highest degree.