Easiest way to get President Henry clay

samcster94

Banned
At any point after 1820 but before 1848, Henry Clay must be President. What is the easiest way to do this ???
 
At any point after 1820 but before 1848, Henry Clay must be President. What is the easiest way to do this ???

Back Jackson, not J.Q. Adams, when the
House chose the President in 1825. That way
he would have got in Andrew's good graces,
instead of being @ loggerheads with him, &
with that powerful ally would indeed have
become President(probably being elected in
1832, when Jackson's two terms would have
been up ITTL).
 

samcster94

Banned
Back Jackson, not J.Q. Adams, when the
House chose the President in 1825. That way
he would have got in Andrew's good graces,
instead of being @ loggerheads with him, &
with that powerful ally would indeed have
become President(probably being elected in
1832, when Jackson's two terms would have
been up ITTL).
Or simply have Jackson do better in 1824
 
Jackson's antipathy to Clay antedated 1824--after the Florida campaign, Clay warned Congress that "It was in the provinces that were laid the seeds of the ambitious projects that overturned the liberties of Rome." Of course, there was hardly anything Jackson hated more than being portrayed as a lawless frontier general. Even without a "corrupt bargain" there would have been no love lost between Jackson and Clay, especially given that there were real ideological differences between the men on issues like the Bank and internal improvements.
 
Jackson's antipathy to Clay antedated 1824--after the Florida campaign, Clay warned Congress that "It was in the provinces that were laid the seeds of the ambitious projects that overturned the liberties of Rome." Of course, there was hardly anything Jackson hated more than being portrayed as a lawless frontier general. Even without a "corrupt bargain" there would have been no love lost between Jackson and Clay, especially given that there were real ideological differences between the men on issues like the Bank and internal improvements.


You're absolutely right David that IOTL there
was no love lost between Clay & Jackson
(who once confided to a friend that he had
two regrets: that he hadn't hanged John C
Calhoun nor shot Clay).* Yet Jackson, for all
his firery nature, could forgive-especially when it was to his advantage to do so.

Take the case of Thomas Hart Benton. In May, 1813, in Nashville Jackson, Benton, &
Benton's brother Jesse, engaged in a nasty
brawl over supposed insults to Jackson's
"honor". AJ wound up being shot by Jesse
in the shoulder & left arm- he could easily
have been killed & in any case carried the bullet in his arm for 19 years until it was
removed.

But in 1823-1825, when AJ served in the
US Senate, he found that Benton- now a
Missouri senator- was a powerful & influential figure. Jackson was running for
President in 1824 & could well use Benton's
support. So Jackson called on Benton & the
two men wound up shaking hands. From then on they were friends- & Benton was
now a powerful Jackson ally.

So if Clay had swung his support to AJ in 1825, I could well see something similar
happening. As for their ideological differen-
ces, who knows? Clay may well have found
his way clear, to stay on AJ's good side, to
change or @ least modify some of his posit-
ions(he wouldn't have been the first person
to do some switching around to make it to
the White House).

P.S. Benton was once actually asked if he
knew Jackson. He haughtily(lack of self-
esteem was not one of his problems)replied:
"Yes sir, I knew him sir---a very great man
sir. I shot him, sir. Afterwards he was of great use to me, sir, in my battle with the
United States Bank."**

*- Mark Summers, A STUDENT CARTOON-
IST'S VIEW OF GREAT FIGURES IN AMERI-
CAN HISTORY(Pocket Books, 1972), p. 53.

**- Quoted in John F Kennedy, PROFILES
IN COURAGE(Perennial Library Edition, 1964), p. 76.
 
The 1844 election was extremely close, and really you are not going to get any more minimalist PODs than that.

There were other opportunities, and Clay is one of those presidential election runner-ups, that if you re-ran USA history numerous times, would be President in more timelines than not (in timelines where the same people as IOTL become prominent). The next big one is actually 1824, you just have to have him place third and the House of Representatives will probably elect him. Its difficult to see where he could get the 4 additional electors needed because six states still chose their electors by state legislature, and the franchise was limited even where voters were involved, but just getting Clay more support and Crawford less support in the New York state legislature alone should be enough.
 
The 1844 election was extremely close, and really you are not going to get any more minimalist PODs than that.

There were other opportunities, and Clay is one of those presidential election runner-ups, that if you re-ran USA history numerous times, would be President in more timelines than not (in timelines where the same people as IOTL become prominent). The next big one is actually 1824, you just have to have him place third and the House of Representatives will probably elect him. Its difficult to see where he could get the 4 additional electors needed because six states still chose their electors by state legislature, and the franchise was limited even where voters were involved, but just getting Clay more support and Crawford less support in the New York state legislature alone should be enough.
Have Crawford's stroke in 1823 be significantly worse so he either dies or is clearly out of the running, making it a three-way race from the get go.
 
Back Jackson, not J.Q. Adams, when the
House chose the President in 1825. That way
he would have got in Andrew's good graces,
instead of being @ loggerheads with him, &
with that powerful ally would indeed have
become President(probably being elected in
1832, when Jackson's two terms would have
been up ITTL).

Except that the three States which voted for Clay in the HoR would be insufficient to give Jackson a majority. If they vote for him all that does is produce a deadlock. So unless three of the Crawford states also switch (possible but far from certain) then on March 4 the Presidency devolves on the VP-elect - one John C Calhoun!!
 
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The argument that I've seen is that Clay in 1824 had a good deal of support in the House of Representatives, which was extensive enough that congressional delegations from states carried by other candidates would have supported him.
 
The 1844 election was extremely close, and really you are not going to get any more minimalist PODs than that.

There were other opportunities, and Clay is one of those presidential election runner-ups, that if you re-ran USA history numerous times, would be President in more timelines than not (in timelines where the same people as IOTL become prominent). The next big one is actually 1824, you just have to have him place third and the House of Representatives will probably elect him. Its difficult to see where he could get the 4 additional electors needed because six states still chose their electors by state legislature, and the franchise was limited even where voters were involved, but just getting Clay more support and Crawford less support in the New York state legislature alone should be enough.

What would've happened if Henry Clay did become president in 1844?
 
What would've happened if Henry Clay did become president in 1844?


Perhaps the War with Mexico might have been butterflied away, postponing the out-
break of the ACW(though it would have been
impossible to indefinitely keep California &
the rest of the West Coast out of U.S.
hands).
 
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