ad failed, Clay threw his support to John Quincy Adams, whom the House early in 1825 elected as the sixth president. When Adams named Clay secretary of state, his Jacksonian opponents charged "corrupt bargain!" The charge was unfair, but Clay was haunted by it throughout his subsequent career.Although Clay was a practical politician of flexible rather than rigid beliefs, he did emerge as the great champion of the "American System." He called for a protective tariff in support of home manufactures, internal improvements (federal aid to local road and canal projects), a strong national bank, and distribution of the proceeds of federal land sales to the states.Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1831, Clay served in that body until 1842 and again from 1849 until his death. In 1833 he devised a compromise tariff that resolved the crisis brought on by South Carolina's attempt to "nullify" the prevailing tariff set by Congress. In the same period he became a leader of the new Whig party that emerged to oppose Andrew Jackson's administration.Perhaps the most heartbreaking event of Clay's career was his close defeat in the presidential contest of 1844, when his reluctance to back the annexation of Texas cost him support in the South. Many believe that his greatest service to the nation came in 1850, when he helped win acceptance for a compromise that ended, at least temporarily, the threat of civil war over the issue of slavery in the new territories. He died in Washington, D.C., on June 29, 1852....
