Abstract
Asked on his deathbed if he had any regrets of things that he had not done in his life, Andrew Jackson replied, “Yes, I didn’t shoot Henry Clay and I didn’t hang John C. Calhoun.” Jackson viewed Clay as a “base, mean scoundrel,” while Clay judged Old Hickory to be an ignorant, corrupt hypocrite. Although Clay attained an enviable list of public contributions during his lifetime, the enmity between him and Jackson often serves as the focal point of the Kentuckian’s forty-year career. Clay scholars have struggled for over 150 years to bring him out of Jackson’s shadow and into the warm light of recognition of his accomplishments as politician and diplomat.
Recommended Citation
Belohlavek, John M.
(1992)
"Review Essays--Henry Clay and the Historian: A One-Hundred-Year Perspective,"
Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 71:
No.
4, Article 7.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol71/iss4/7
