Calhoun and Clay were southerners, but
with a difference, for Calhoun was born in the very sanctum sanctorum of
the South, South Carolina, while Clay's life was spent in the border
state of Kentucky, so removed from the South that it did not secede from
the Union. Webster was a product of Massachusetts. Calhoun and Webster
were, in temperament and belief, as far apart as the poles; Clay stood
between them, "the great compromiser." Calhoun and Webster were greater
than Clay, for they possessed a larger genius and a broader culture; and
Webster was a greater man than Calhoun, because he possessed the truer
vision. Calhoun died in 1850; Clay and Webster in 1852. For the forty
years previous to that, these three men were in every way the most
famous and conspicuous in America. Others flashed, meteor-like, into a
brief brilliance; but these three burned steady as the stars. They had
no real rivals. And yet, though each of them was consumed by an ambition
to be President, not one was able to realize that ambition, and their
last years were embittered by defeat.
As has been said, Clay was the smallest man of the three. His reputation
rests, not upon constructive statesmanship, but upon his ability as a
party leader, in which respect he has had few equals in American
history, and upon his success in proposing compromises.
Pages:
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193