May 04, 2017 - Sale 2446

Sale 2446 - Lot 116

Price Realized: $ 562
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
HIS POSITION "ON THE INFLAMMATORY SUBJECT OF ABOLITION IS APPROVED" CLAY, HENRY. Letter Signed, "H. Clay," as Senator, to Abram C. Randall, expressing pleasure at the approval of his efforts on the subject of abolition, stating that his relations with [William Cabell] Rives and the Conservatives is "amicable," and predicting that the bill instituting a Treasury Bank would not pass the House. Additional Franking Signature, "Free / H Clay," on address panel. 1 1/4 pages, 4to, with integral address leaf; some scattered foxing, short closed separations at folds. Washington, 6 February 1838
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". . . [T]he course which I felt it my duty to pursue on the inflammatory subject of abolition is approved by my friends in your quarter & by some even of the abolitionists. My position was one full of delicacy & difficulty. I was aware that a Southern Ultra had set a trap for me, & I cannot but feel greatly gratified that he is caught in it himself. . . .
"You enquire as to the State of the Treasury Bank. It may possibly pass the Senate by a lean majority, but we hope its defeat in the House is certain. . . ."
Although Clay owned slaves himself, he supported moderate anti-slavery positions and advocated for the emancipation and relocation of slaves.
In his Senate speech delivered on February 19, 1838, Clay argued that President Jackson's administration was responsible for destroying the banking system of the U.S. with the intention of instituting a government bank under the control of the executive branch. Jackson's main target had been the Second Bank of the United States, which Clay favored, whose charter expired two years earlier.