Blogging from A to Z April Challenge - Letter C

This is the third day of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.  

Born on April 12, 1777, Henry Clay grew up on his family's homestead in Hanover County, Virginia. His father was a Baptist minister, who died when Clay was just a boy. Clay's mother, Elizabeth, remarried, and Clay had a good relationship with his stepfather, who moved the family to Richmond, Virginia.

Clay played a central role in national politics for over forty years. He was leader of the Whig party and ran unsuccessfully for president five times. He was Secretary of State under John Quincy Adams, Speaker of the House, and later on was an influential member of the Senate. 

Upon his father's death, Clay inherited two slaves, but he disapproved of the slavery system and advocated gradual emancipation and the resettling of the freed people in Africa. Clay was known as "the Great Compromiser," having played a major role in the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Tariff Compromise of 1833, and the Compromise of 1850. 

Henry Clay died in June of 1852. The Whig party disappeared shortly after his death and the Republican party succeeded it.