Henry Clay by David S. Heidler

Author:David S. Heidler [Heidler, David S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-58836-995-6
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2010-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

For Whigs, protecting American liberty was a paramount obligation and just as important as repairing the economy. By running for office on a party ticket, a candidate necessarily pledged to carry out the party’s program if elected. The people rightly expected it. The people would have known precisely what they were getting with Henry Clay. At the time of the Harrisburg convention, however, William Henry Harrison’s most appealing feature for shrewd Whig politicos was that his views on issues were at best vaguely apprehended. He was attractive precisely because he had no issues to harm him and no enemies to assail him. But he too understood his responsibility to stand with the people who worked for his election and at least not block their way after victory. “I have made promises of great amendments in the administration of public affairs,” Tom Corwin declared, “& I do not wish to be made out a liar & fool both, by the history of the first six months of the new era.”132

As Whigs marched on the campaign trail in 1840, they had assurances from Harrison himself that in victory he would not frustrate them, would not make them appear to be liars and fools. He did not come out explicitly for a new national bank, for instance, but he made clear that if Congress felt one was needed, he would not stand in the way.133 It was a reassuring endorsement of legislative supremacy, another first principle for Whigs, and such statements by Harrison comforted Clay and his friends.

Nobody seems to have given much thought to John Tyler’s opinions on the matter.

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