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Letter to Matthew Carey, Dec. 25, 1830

 File — Box: 1, Folder: 3

Scope and Content of the Collection

From the Collection:

Letters regarding various aspects of Clay’s political career, including his opposition towards Andrew Jackson and Jacksonism and details of his race against Zachary Taylor to be nominated for Whig Presidential candidate. The letters express opinions on South Carolina’s 1830 threat of secession, the Bank of the U.S., candidates for the vice presidency, the temperance movement, and slavery. Though Clay writes a letter lauding the laws which suppress the African slave trade, in another he refutes a conversation in which he purportedly admitted to the aim of pitting slave labor against free labor to make slavery expensive and impractical, reminding his correspondent that he is a slaveholder himself and an “adversary to abolition.” Letters of introduction and suggestions as to what to say in speeches and who to nominate show Clay’s large political influence. The last letter provides a description of the life, career, and death of George Wythe, who had employed the young Clay as a secretary in his old age. Correspondents include: Matthew Carey, Lewis Tappan, Francis Taliaferro Brooke, John Leeds Kerr, Edward C. Delavan, Kenneth Rayner, H. H. Dearborn, Phillip Phoenix, H. Holley, and Benjamin Blake Minor.

Dates

  • Creation: Dec. 25, 1830

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The Henry Clay Letters are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 5 folders at a time maximum, and items in each folder will be counted before and after delivery to the patron (Priority I).

Repository Details

Part of the The Newberry Library - Modern Manuscripts and Archives Repository

Contact:
60 West Walton Street
Chicago Illinois 60610 United States
312-255-3512