Early Career

Clay was born in Hanover County, Virginia. His father, a Baptist minister, died when Henry was barely four. Clay had little formal education but was able to study law under one of Virginia's most famous lawyers, George Wythe. At the age of 20, Clay was admitted to the bar. Soon after he moved to Kentucky. He became a successful criminal lawyer, and his reputation grew. In 1803 he was elected to the Kentucky legislature representing a district near Lexington, where he lived on a plantation called Ashland. He served from 1803 to 1806 and from 1807 to 1809. During 1806–7 and 1810–11, he filled out terms of two deceased Kentuckians in the U.S. Senate.

Clay was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1810 and soon was chosen its speaker. As the leader of the aggressive, midwestern "War Hawks," Clay helped push President Madison into war with Great Britain in 1812. In 1814, Clay resigned from Congress after Madison chose him to be one of the American delegates to the peace conference. During this period Clay developed a hostility toward Andrew Jackson, whom he viewed as a dangerous political rival and who he felt had slurred the honor of Kentucky troops by accusing them of cowardice at the Battle of New Orleans. Clay was reelected to the House in 1815 and was again chosen as its speaker.

In 1820 Clay's talents as a compromiser were first demonstrated when he played a leading role in steering the Missouri Compromise through Congress. This law reduced tension between the North and the South over slavery.