Henry Clay: America's Greatest Statesman by Harlow Giles UngerMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Feels like I’ve been behind in writing and posting notes on my completed books for months. I will get there, I hope!
For this book, it was another for this year’s reading project of American history and trying to focus on books I already owned. This book as a biography of Henry Clay did not impress me as much as other biographies I have recently read. The material did cover his life, mostly politically, and did include some of his home life, but the depth was just not here, it was more cursory. Despite that, I did learn more about the man than I knew before.
Clay lived from 1777 – 1852, came from Kentucky and trained as a lawyer. He ended up serving in several presidential administrations, and running for president himself three times, but was never elected. He was part of the Whig party before it dissolved.
Clay was another one of those southern politicians who claimed to abhor slavery and yet owned slaves himself. He did free some of his slaves, but not all. Clay was advocated for removing former slaves to their own country in Africa. Clay was President of the American Colonization Society from 1836 to 1849, believing it would benefit former slaves and Africa if they returned to their original home.
What Clay may be best known for is how he helped to keep the states united prior to the civil war. The debates about slavery were fierce and he was vital to several compromises that held the union together for a little while longer.
One note on the book – it was full of images which was a nice surprise.
Book rating: 3.5 stars
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