Editing Henry Clay (section)

===Election and leadership===
The [[1810 and 1811 United States House of Representatives elections|1810–1811 elections]] produced many young, anti-British members of Congress who, like Clay, supported going to war with Great Britain. Buoyed by the support of fellow [[war hawk]]s, Clay was elected [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] for the [[12th United States Congress|12th Congress]].{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2010|p=85}} At 34, he was the youngest person to become speaker, a distinction he held until 1839, when 30-year-old [[Robert M. T. Hunter]] took office.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ostermeier |first=Eric |title=Paul Ryan Would Be Youngest House Speaker Since 1860s |date=October 13, 2015 |url=http://editions.lib.umn.edu/smartpolitics/about-smart-politics/ |work=Smart Politics |publisher=University of Minnesota Libraries |location=Minneapolis, Minnesota |access-date=February 19, 2019}}</ref> He was also the first of only two new members elected speaker to date,{{efn|The speaker during the [[1st United States Congress|1st Congress]], [[Frederick Muhlenberg]], was technically also a new member.}} the other being [[William Pennington]] in 1860.<ref>{{cite web |last=Heitshusen |first=Valerie |title=The Speaker of the House: House Officer, Party Leader, and Representative |date=February 11, 2011 |work=CRS Report for Congress |url=http://www.wise-intern.org/orientation/documents/97-780.pdf |page=2 |publisher=[[Congressional Research Service]], the Library of Congress |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=February 18, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417074744/http://www.wise-intern.org/orientation/documents/97-780.pdf |archive-date=April 17, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Between 1810 and 1824, Clay was elected to seven terms in the House.<ref>{{cite web |title=Clay, Henry: 1777–1852 |url=https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/11051 |work=History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives |publisher=The Office of the Historian and the Clerk of the House's Office of Art and Archives |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=February 19, 2019}}</ref> His tenure was interrupted from 1814 to 1815 when he was a commissioner to peace talks with the British in [[Ghent]], [[Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands|United Netherlands]] to end the [[War of 1812]], and from 1821 to 1823, when he left Congress to rebuild his family's fortune in the aftermath of the [[Panic of 1819]].{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2010|pp=148–149}} [[List of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives elections|Elected speaker six times]], Clay's cumulative tenure in office of 10 years, 196 days, is the second-longest, surpassed only by [[Sam Rayburn]].<ref>{{cite web |title=List of Speakers of the House |url=https://history.house.gov/People/Office/Speakers-List/ |work=History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives |publisher=The Office of the Historian and the Clerk of the House's Office of Art and Archives |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=February 19, 2019}}</ref>

As speaker, Clay wielded considerable power in making committee appointments, and like many of his predecessors he assigned his allies to important committees. Clay was exceptional in his ability to control the legislative agenda through well-placed allies and the establishment of new committees and departed from precedent by frequently taking part in floor debates.{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2010|p=86}} Yet he also gained a reputation for personal courteousness and fairness in his rulings and committee appointments.{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=31–32}} Clay's drive to increase the power of the office of speaker was aided by President [[James Madison]], who deferred to Congress in most matters.{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2010|pp=88–89}} [[John Randolph of Roanoke|John Randolph]], a member of the Democratic-Republican Party but also a member of the "[[tertium quids]]" group that opposed many federal initiatives, emerged as a prominent opponent of Speaker Clay.{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2010|pp=87–88}} While Randolph frequently attempted to obstruct Clay's initiatives, Clay became a master of parliamentary maneuvers that enabled him to advance his agenda even over the attempted obstruction by Randolph and others.{{sfn|Heidler|Heidler|2010|p=96}}{{efn|The Clay–Randolph rivalry eventually escalated into a duel in 1826, the second of two duels fought by Clay, and ended with both parties unhurt.{{sfn|Klotter|2018|pp=65–67}}}}