Thomas
Hart Benton
served in the U.S. Senate for 30 years, during
which time he was one of President Andrew
Jackson's strongest supporters, an advocate for
western expansion, and a supporter of a gradual
end to slavery.
John
Caldwell Calhoun
served multiple terms in the U.S. House and the
U.S. Senate, as Secretary of War, as
Vice-President (twice), and as Secretary of
State. In response to tariffs he saw as unfair to
the South, he declared that a state had the right
to nullify any federal law it believed
to be unconstitutional.
Henry Clay
served in both houses of Congress, and was the
second-longest-serving Speaker of the House in
U.S. history, being elected to that position a
total of six times. After supporting the War of
1812 he helped negotiate the treaty that ended
that war, and it was he who authored the second
Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850.
De Witt
Clinton
served in the U.S. Senate, as Mayor of New York
City, and as Governor of New York. An active
promoter of a canal between the Hudson River and
Lake Erie, he had the satisfaction of presiding
over the opening of both the Champlain and Erie
canals.
William
Harris Crawford
served in the U.S. Senate, as Secretary of War,
and as Secretary of the Treasury. He was a
presidential candidate in 1816 and 1824, with the
latter election having to be decided by the U.S.
House of Representatives.
|
James
Gadsden
was the railroad president who first proposed a
southern transcontinental railroad, and then
negotiated a treaty with Mexico whereby the
United States purchased 45,535 square miles of
land in what is now southern Arizona and New
Mexico.
Harrison
Gray Otis
was chiefly responsible for summoning the
Hartford Convention in 1814, at which New
Englanders drafted a list of grievances to the
federal government related to the War of 1812.
Richard Rush
was serving as acting Secretary of State when he
concluded negotiations with Britain that disarmed
the Great Lakes. As Minister to Great Britain he
negotiated the treaty setting the 49th parallel
as the boundary between the United States and
Canada. He also served as Attorney General and
Secretary of the Treasury.
Daniel
Webster
served as a U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator, and
Secretary of State. He was a vocal opponent of
the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, a supporter
of the Bank of the United States, negotiated the
treaty which settled the Maine boundary dispute
with Canada, and supported the Compromise of
1850, which helped delay outbreak of the Civil
War by ten years.
Silas
Wright
spent 26 years in political service, including 2
years in the U.S. House, 11 years in the U.S.
Senate, and one term as Governor of New York.
During those years, he was a proponent of tariffs
and of removing federal deposits from the Bank of
the United States, and an opponent of abolition.
|
SKC Films Library