Editing Henry Clay (section)

===Historical reputation===
{{conservatism US|politicians}}
Clay's Whig Party collapsed four years after his death, but Clay cast a long shadow over the generation of political leaders that presided over the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. Mississippi Senator [[Henry S. Foote]] stated his opinion that "had there been one such man in the Congress of the United States as Henry Clay in 1860–1861 there would, I feel sure, have been no civil war".{{sfn|Remini|1991|pp=761–762}}<ref name="king1">{{cite magazine|last1=King|first1=Gilbert|title=The Day Henry Clay Refused to Compromise|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-day-henry-clay-refused-to-compromise-153589853/?no-ist|access-date=October 25, 2016|magazine=Smithsonian|date=December 6, 2012}}</ref> Clay's protege and fellow Kentuckian John J. Crittenden attempted to keep the Union together with the formation of the [[Constitutional Union Party (United States)|Constitutional Union Party]] and the proposed [[Crittenden Compromise]]. Though Crittenden's efforts were unsuccessful, [[Kentucky in the American Civil War|Kentucky remained in the Union]] during the Civil War, reflecting in part Clay's continuing influence.{{sfn|Klotter|2012|pp=243–263}} [[Abraham Lincoln]] was a great admirer of Clay, saying he was "my ideal of a great man". Lincoln wholeheartedly supported Clay's economic programs; prior to the Civil War, he also held similar stances about slavery and the Union.{{sfn|Bowman|2008|pp=495–512}} Some historians have argued that a Clay victory in the 1844 election would have prevented both the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War.{{sfn|Klotter|2018|p=379}}

{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?297981-4/henry-clay-us-senate-leadership Presentation by James Klotter on the life and career of Henry Clay, February 11, 2011], [[C-SPAN]]}}
Clay is generally regarded as one of the important political figures of his era.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Singletary |first1=Otis |title='Henry Clay Statesman for the Union' by Robert V. Remini |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/2013/04/02/9804907c-9bb8-11e2-9bda-edd1a7fb557d_story.html |access-date=December 28, 2018 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=April 2, 2013}}</ref> Most historians and political scientists consider Clay to be one of the most influential speakers of the house in U.S. history.{{sfn|Strahan|Moscardelli|Moshe|Wike|2000|pp=563, 586–587}} In 1957, a Senate Committee selected Clay as one of the five greatest U.S. senators, along with [[Daniel Webster]], [[John C. Calhoun]], [[Robert La Follette]], and [[Robert A. Taft]].{{sfn|Klotter|2018|p=389}} A 1986 survey of historians ranked Clay as the greatest senator in U.S. history, while a 2006 survey of historians ranked Clay as the 31st-most influential American of all time.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The 100 Most Influential Figures in American History |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/12/the-100-most-influential-figures-in-american-history/305384/ |access-date=December 28, 2018 |magazine=The Atlantic Monthly |date=December 2006}}</ref> A 1998 poll of historians ranked Clay as the most qualified unsuccessful major party presidential nominee in U.S. history.<ref>{{cite news |date=July 19, 1998 |title=The Presidency; The Ones Who Got Away |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/19/magazine/sunday-july-19-1998-the-presidency-ones-who-got-away.html |access-date=December 29, 2018 |id={{ProQuest|2235859447}}}}</ref> In 2015, political scientist Michael G. Miller and historian Ken Owen ranked Clay as one of the four most influential American politicians who never served as president, alongside [[Alexander Hamilton]], [[William Jennings Bryan]], and Calhoun.<ref name="smasket1">{{cite news |last1=Masket |first1=Seth |title=A bracket to determine the most influential American who never became president |url=https://www.vox.com/mischiefs-of-faction/2015/11/19/9760888/most-influential-non-president |access-date=August 1, 2018 |publisher=Vox |date=November 19, 2015}}</ref> Noting Clay's influence over the United States in the last three decades of his life, biographer James Klotter writes that "perhaps posterity should no longer call it the [[Jacksonian Era]] ... and instead term it the Clay Era."{{sfn|Klotter|2018|p=387}}