Editing Henry Clay (section)

===Jackson administration, 1829–1837===
{{See also|Presidency of Andrew Jackson|22nd United States Congress|23rd United States Congress|24th United States Congress}}
[[File:Clay portrait.jpg|thumb|Henry Clay, {{Circa|1832}}]]

====Return to the Senate====
Even with Clay out of office, President Jackson continued to see Clay as one of his major rivals, and Jackson at one point suspected Clay of being behind the [[Petticoat affair]], a controversy involving the wives of his Cabinet members.{{sfn|Howe|2007|p=340}} Clay strongly opposed the 1830 [[Indian Removal Act]], which authorized the administration to relocate Native Americans to land west of the [[Mississippi River]].{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=222–223}} Another key point of contention between Clay and Jackson was the proposed [[Maysville Road veto|Maysville Road]], which would connect [[Maysville, Kentucky]], to the National Road in [[Zanesville, Ohio]]; transportation advocates hoped that later extensions would eventually connect the National Road to [[New Orleans]].{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=161–162}} In 1830, Jackson vetoed the project both because he felt that the road did not constitute interstate commerce, and also because he generally opposed using the federal government to promote economic modernization.{{sfn|Goodrich|1950|pp=145–169}} While Jackson's veto garnered support from opponents of infrastructure spending, it damaged his base of support in Clay's home state of Kentucky.{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=162–163}} Clay returned to federal office in 1831 by winning election to the Senate over [[Richard Mentor Johnson]] in a 73 to 64 vote of the Kentucky legislature.{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2010|p=236}} His return to the Senate after 20 years, 8 months, 7 days out of office, marks the fourth-longest gap in service to the chamber in history.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://editions.lib.umn.edu/smartpolitics/2013/12/04/bob-smith-and-the-12-year-itch/ |title=Bob Smith and the 12-Year Itch |work=Smart Politics |first=Eric |last=Ostermeier |date=December 4, 2013}}</ref>

====Bank War and the 1832 presidential election====
{{Main|Bank War|1831 National Republican National Convention|1832 United States presidential election}}
[[File:ElectoralCollege1832.svg|thumb|upright=1|Andrew Jackson defeated Clay in the 1832 election]]

With the defeat of Adams, Clay became the de facto leader of the National Republicans, and he began making preparations for a presidential campaign in the [[1832 United States presidential election|1832 election]].{{sfn|Gammon|1922|pp=53–54}} In 1831, Jackson made it clear that he was going to run for re-election, ensuring that support or opposition to his presidency would be a central feature of the upcoming race.{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2010|p=231}} Jackson's Democrats rallied around his policies towards the national bank, internal improvements, [[Indian Removal Act|Indian removal]], and [[Nullification (U.S. Constitution)|nullification]], but these policies also earned Jackson various enemies, including Vice President John C. Calhoun.{{sfn|Gammon|1922|pp=135–136}} However, Clay rejected overtures from the fledgling [[Anti-Masonic Party]],{{efn|Though it adopted other policy issues, the Anti-Masonic Party strongly opposed the influence of [[Freemasonry]]; Jackson and Clay were both Freemasons. Though he not been active Freemason since 1824, Clay refused to openly condemn the organization.{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=168–170}}}} and his attempt to convince Calhoun to serve as his running mate failed, leaving the opposition to Jackson split among different factions.{{sfn|Cole|1993|pp=140–141}} Inspired by the Anti-Masonic Party's national convention, Clay's National Republican followers arranged for a [[1831 National Republican National Convention|national convention]] that nominated Clay for president.{{sfn|Gammon|1922|pp=60–61}}

As the 1832 election approached, the debate over the re-authorization of the national bank emerged as the most important issue in the campaign.{{sfn|Gammon|1922|pp=135–136}} By the early 1830s, the national bank had become the largest corporation in the United States, and [[banknotes]] issued by the national bank served as the de facto legal tender of the United States.{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=171–173}} Jackson disliked the national bank because of a hatred of both banks and paper currency.{{sfn|Howe|2007|pp=375–376}} The bank's charter did not expire until 1836, but bank president [[Nicholas Biddle (banker)|Nicholas Biddle]] asked for renewal in 1831, hoping that election year pressure and support from Secretary of the Treasury [[Louis McLane]] would convince Jackson to allow the re-charter.{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2010|pp=242–244}} Biddle's application set off the "[[Bank War]]"; Congress passed a bill to renew the national bank's charter, but Jackson vetoed it, holding the bank to be unconstitutional.{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=174, 179–180}} Clay had initially hoped that the national bank re-charter would work to his advantage, but Jackson's allies seized on the issue, redefining the 1832 election as a choice between the president and a "monied oligarchy."{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=175, 181–182}} Ultimately, Clay was unable to defeat a popular sitting president. Jackson won 219 of the 286 electoral votes and 54.2% of the popular vote, carrying almost every state outside of New England.{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=184–187}}

====Nullification Crisis====
{{Main|Nullification crisis}}

The high rates of the [[Tariff of 1828]] and the [[Tariff of 1832]] angered many Southerners because they resulted in higher prices for imported goods.{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2010|p=251}} After the 1832 election, South Carolina held a state convention that declared the tariff rates of 1828 and 1832 to be nullified within the state, and further declared that federal collection of import duties would be illegal after January 1833.{{sfn|Cole|1993|pp=157–158}} In response to this [[Nullification Crisis]], Jackson issued his [[Proclamation to the People of South Carolina]], which strongly denied the right of states to nullify federal laws or [[secession in the United States|secede]].{{sfn|Cole|1993|pp=160–161}} He asked Congress to pass what became known as the [[Force Bill]], which would authorize the president to send federal soldiers against South Carolina if it sought to nullify federal law.{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=212–213}}

Though Clay favored high tariff rates, he found Jackson's strong rhetoric against South Carolina distressing and sought to avoid a crisis that could end in civil war.{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2010|p=251}} He proposed a compromise tariff bill that would lower tariff rates, but do so gradually, thereby giving manufacturing interests time to adapt to less protective rates. Clay's compromise tariff won the backing of both manufacturers, who believed they would not receive a better deal, and Calhoun, who sought a way out of the crisis but refused to work with President Jackson's supporters on an alternative tariff bill.{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=217–218}} Though most members of Clay's own National Republican Party opposed it, the [[Tariff of 1833]] passed both houses of Congress. Jackson simultaneously signed the tariff bill and the Force bill, and South Carolina leaders accepted the new tariff, effectively bringing the crisis to an end. Clay's role in resolving the crisis brought him renewed national stature in the wake of a crushing presidential election defeat, and some began referring to him as the "Great Compromiser."{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=219–221}}

====Formation of the Whig Party====
{{Main|National Republican Party|Whig Party (United States)}}

Following the end of the Nullification Crisis in March 1833, Jackson renewed his offensive against the national bank, despite some opposition from within his own Cabinet.{{sfn|Cole|1993|pp=187–188}} Jackson and Secretary of the Treasury [[Roger Taney]] pursued a policy of removing all federal deposits from the national bank and placing them in state-chartered banks known as "[[pet banks]]."{{sfn|Howe|2007|pp=387–388}} Because federal law required the president to deposit federal revenue in the national bank so long as it was financially stable, many regarded Jackson's actions as illegal, and Clay led [[Censure of Andrew Jackson|the passage]] of a Senate motion [[Censure in the United States|censuring]] Jackson.{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=225–227}} Nonetheless, the national bank's federal charter expired in 1836, and though the institution continued to function under a Pennsylvania charter, it never regained the influence it had had at the beginning of Jackson's administration.{{sfn|Cole|1993|pp=209–211}}

The removal of deposits helped unite Jackson's opponents into one party for the first time, as National Republicans, Calhounites, former Democrats, and members of the Anti-Masonic Party coalesced into the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]].{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=227–228}} The term "Whig" originated from a speech Clay delivered in 1834, in which he compared opponents of Jackson to the [[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]], a British political party opposed to [[absolute monarchy]].{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2010|p=266}} Neither the Whigs nor the Democrats were unified geographically or ideologically. However, Whigs tended to favor a stronger legislature, a stronger federal government, a higher tariff, greater spending on infrastructure, re-authorization of the Second Bank of the United States, and publicly funded education. Conversely, Democrats tended to favor a stronger president, stronger state governments, lower tariffs, [[Hard money (policy)|hard money]], and expansionism. Neither party took a strong national stand on slavery.{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2010|pp=313–315}} The Whig base of support lay in wealthy businessmen, professionals, the professional class, and large planters, while the Democratic base of support lay in immigrant [[Roman Catholicism|Catholics]] and yeomen farmers, but each party appealed across class lines.{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=229–231}}

Partly due to grief over the death of his daughter, Anne, Clay chose not to run in the [[1836 United States presidential election|1836 presidential election]], and the Whigs were too disorganized to nominate a single candidate.{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2010|pp=272–273}} Three Whig candidates ran against Van Buren: General [[William Henry Harrison]], Senator [[Hugh Lawson White]], and Senator Daniel Webster. By running multiple candidates, the Whigs hoped to force a contingent election in the House of Representatives. Clay personally preferred Webster, but he threw his backing behind Harrison who had the broadest appeal among voters. Clay's decision not to endorse Webster opened a rift between the two Whig party leaders, and Webster would work against Clay in future presidential elections.{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=239–241}} Despite the presence of multiple Whig candidates, Van Buren won the 1836 election with 50.8 percent of the popular vote and 170 of the 294 electoral votes.{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2010|p=274}}