Talk:Henry Clay

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Contents

[edit] It's alive!

I have added two cleanup tags to this article and I did some work on it myself. Some things just don't make sense and the article could use some section headings and structure separation.

-Fotinakis 01:41, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Personality

The "Personality" section has rather a lot of personality itself. Where'd this purpleness come from? It looks pasted-in, and might be a little too big to avoid copyvio. Blair P. Houghton 00:25, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I would venture to guess that the entire article was copied from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, as it states at the bottom. But maybe not this section; it seems unencyclopedaic, in general. Maybe we should just scrap it for content's sakes? Philthecow 00:59, Jan 8, 2005 (UTC)

I kinda like it. We should attribute it, though, if we can find out to whom. On another note: Hokey-smokes, Bullwinkle! I just copyedited the Brittanica!? Blair P. Houghton 01:06, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Ah. The personality section was copied directly from the 1911 Brittanica, filigree and all. Wow. Musta been cool to be a hired quill when absinthe was legal. Blair P. Houghton 01:12, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Ah. Attribution, then. We'll give the Clay-adoring absinthe-drinking hired quill his anonymous due.


[edit] 'Henry Clay graduated West Point in 1862'

♥ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.4.23.105 (talk) 21:22, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

(And my God, you just copyedited the Britannica. You should be proud.) Philthecow 01:25, Jan 8, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Ashland

Okay, so there are several places named Ashland. I took the original cite to mean that Clay had actually named the estate after the Ohio county. Any reason to think he actually named it for the Kentucky city? Blair P. Houghton 06:11, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Oops, I think you are right. I read the cite wrong. I read it as the county in Ohio was named after the estate. The city in Kentucky was first named Poage's Landing and was changed to Ashland in 1854 in honor of Clay's estate. I will revert. Thanks for catching that. (Dblevins2 03:24, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC))

Henry Clay named his estate "Ashland" for the numerous ash trees on the property. This was not mentioned in the article.(12.203.178.151 03:15, 3 January 2006 (UTC)B.Ray,education coordinator for Ashland,The Henry Clay Estate)

[edit] Neo-mercantilism

Henry Clay's entire set of policies, including protectionism, but also building national infrastructure and funding universities and the arts, were refered to as "neo-mercantilism", which was an economic school of thought that was gaining popularity in the United States. The header for the section on his American System is titled "protectionism", however--I think it would be better changed to "neo-mercantilism" which would reflect his whole policies. I'm going to add "neo-mercantilism" to the list of articles I plan to make, and when I write that I will edit the Henry Clay article. (Brianshapiro 08:47, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC))

[edit] Speakership dates

According to the Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Henry Clay's second speakership ended on October 28, 1820, even though a new Speaker wouldn't be chosen until November 15:

Lexington, K. 28th October, 1820.
Sir: I will thank you to communicate to the House of Representatives, that, owing to imperious circumstances, I shall not be able to attend upon it until after the Christmas Holidays, and to respectfully ask it to allow me to resign the office of its Speaker, which I have the honor to hold, and to consider this as the act of my resignation. I beg the House also to permit me to reiterate the expression of my sincere acknowledgments and unaffected gratitude for the distinguished consideration which it has uniformly manifested for me.
I have the honor to be, with great esteem,
Your faithful and obedient servant,
H. CLAY.

(House Journal. 1820. 16th Cong., 2nd sess., 13 November.)

A similar check of the Journal reveals that Clay's first speakership did indeed end on January 19, 1814, the same day as his successor was elected.

— DLJessup 21:56, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] See Also

Obviously needs editing

[edit] Reverted to my Editing of entire article

My editing was to format the page to fit the years of his life. This makes the article more orderly. Further, added information on his year of birth, children and wife. Will Beback has taken it on a personal crusade to insult me whereever he can by reverting all my edits.--Northmeister 01:01, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

If you don't sign in then they are anonymous edits. Please give full explanations of all your edits, and major re-writes should be discussed here. Thanks, -Will Beback 01:15, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
I forgot to sign in and corrected that thereafter. Another example of harrassment, which an arbcom case had warned you about before. --Northmeister 01:54, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Added quip about Chairman Kennedy in 1957 to end of beginning paragraph. --Northmeister 22:19, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lots of vandalism

This article seems to be getting a lot of vandalism lately. It might need limited protection to registered users. Will Beback what would you suggest on that? Also, the Clay in Court section is odd and need expansion - it seems like an advertisement to me right now. --Northmeister 02:13, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

My theory is that a considerable amount of vandalism in Wikipedia correlates with the syllabus of junior high school American history classes. So it comes in waves. Much of the "trivia" info should be integrated into the article, as should the matreial on Clay's legal career. -Will Beback 02:22, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
I agree. --Northmeister 02:33, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] photograph

Wikipedia has a photograph of Henry Clay, why isn't it being used in this article? :P--KrossTalk 01:53, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for finding that, I've added it. -Will Beback 04:09, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Some link trouble

The link about Mt. Clay and the Presidential mountain in Vermont leads to a dead end. I'm studying for a U.S. History AP, so I really don't have time to tinker with it. Maybe someone who is a registered user here would like to fix that and put a feather in their cap. ~Regulus.

[edit] Presidential Bids

I changed a few items in the presidential bids section. The description of Henry Clay's presidential runs as all being close elections is just not accurate. Losing to Andrew Jackson by 18% is not a close election by any standard that I know of. --Weatherunderground 13:02, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Minor Edits in Trivia

Alexander Clay and Lucius D. Clay were not descendants of Henry Clay. If they were kin at all, the relationship was very distant; so I removed that bullet from the Trivia section. I also added a link to the new entry on Henry's son, James Brown Clay. JamestownArarat 22 August 2006

[edit] Marriage?

Why does this article say Clay was married to Mark Schafer? User:68.55.127.128 11:12, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

One word: vandalism. It's been corrected now. GeoWPC 19:04, 10 October 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Vessel bearing his Name

I just read in a book about the history of the Bronx, New York that in 1862(?) a pleasure steam-boat bearing the name of this official badly burned and ran aground in the Bronx. Over 100 died. Would I be the only contributor to the article who could support this contribution? The account is curious enough to include in notes. It may even evolve into an article of it's own merit. Opinions? 67.87.92.56 (talk) 01:34, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

It was a big deal when that happened - during a race with "The Armenia," if I recall. But maybe it's a topic for another article? No direct relevance to the Statesman, I think. JamestownArarat (talk) 03:43, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Pic at top

It is my firm belief that the picture expresses so much more of who Clay was than the portrait ever could do, and entirely fits our mission of being an encyclopedic educational project,w hich is why i switched them a few weeks ago. The portrait is nice and could be repositioned higher up but IMO the article is so much better with that pic at the top, and nobody has disagreed with me for several weeks. Thanks, SqueakBox 20:04, 11 May 2008 (UTC)