Transcripts For CSPAN3 American History TV 20240622

Home to kentucky senator john pope, the pope villas one of only three remaining domestic designs by architect benjamin o latrobe. His more notable designs include the white house in u. S. Capitol. We recently visited many thanks showcasing the citys history. Learn more about lexington all weekend here on American History tv. We are at ashland, the henry clay estate, in lexington, kentucky. The mansion at ashland is a unique situation. Clays original home had to be torn down and rebuilt. It fell into disrepair and could not be fixed, so he rebuilt on the original foundation. What we have is a home that is essentially a fivepart federal style home as henry clay had it with italian details architectural elements, and an added layer of aesthetic details added by henry clays granddaughter and greatgranddaughter. It is very much a layer cake, or as i like to refer to it, and onion. You can fuel the layers back until you get to henry clay. Henry clay was one of the seminal figures of the 19th century. He was of the Second Generation of great political american figures. He guided the nation from it makes sense to its ultimate test in the civil war. He was a speaker of the house, senator, secretary of state, but as important a figure as there was between 1800 and 1850 or so. Henry clay originally came from virginia. He was born in hanover county. He was born during the revolution, saw the nation form, was growing up as the nation was being created. He came along when our nation was still a toddler taking its first steps. He was seeing that happened and wanting to do everything it could to make sure its longterm survival and development, etc. His parents, his mother and stepfather his father died when , he was four, relocated here when henry clay was 14. His stepfathers brother is one of the founders of a city in kentucky. Versatile verse sales, kentucky. When henry clay obtained his law license, he settled in lexington, which was the biggest city in this area at the time, certainly one of the greatest cities of the western United States. Henry clay lived in downtown lexington and bought the property in 1804. He began working on it and we think was residing on it by 1807. In 1809, he places an ad for a lost horse. Indiana he says he wants a return to him at ashland and will offer a reward. We never know if he ever got the horseback. That is the first mention of ashland and the first time he identifies himself as being here at ashland. We are currently in a room we call the study. We know from historical sources that henry clay had study and it was approximately in the location of the room we interpret as the study today. The study is the place where we tell the story of henry clay s careers other than politics. He had two careers. He was an attorney for better than 50 years. On the wall is henry clays law license, dated november 6, 1797. He brought it with him from virginia and that enabled him to have a 50 year career. He was successful at every level from the local level to the United States report. Supreme court. On the second shelf of the bookcase and desk are some of henry clay is Supreme Court case reviews, which he used in preparing for cases. He is mentioned in these books because he practiced at that level, so was heard a number of times at the United States Supreme Court. Among other things, he introduced the amicus curiae brief. To the United States Supreme Court. This is a brief filed by someone who is not part of the case, neither the defendant nor the plaintiff, but who has a vested interest. It is also known as the friend of the court brief. He was the first to file such a brief and it is now a part of jurisprudence. The career of henry clay enjoyed the most was farming. He loved farming and actually grinned to give up politics and law for it several times. Although he never did that. He had a farm of which he was very proud. He said, i am in one respect better off than most in spite of not reaching the promised land. He said that he occupied a farm as good as any. I acquired that farm not by hereditary descent of live my own hard work. That was always very important. He always thought a great deal of people who made their own way and who were selfmade. He coined the term, selfmade ninja referred to these evil. Folks. His farm was a have a plantation. That with his cash crop and he grew thousands of tons of it here for making rope and bagging for the cotton industry. We have a textbook in which he wrote a chapter and his advice was so widely thought that sought that people often ask him to write it down on a variety of agricultural topics. In this case, it was published in a textbook on the subject of farming him. This is another example. This letter is a letter henry clay wrote in a team 37. He is writing to a gentleman who has written for advice on jackson jennings. Henry clay raised jackson jennings, had a lot of them. In it he explained where to buy them, how to raise them and how to go about breeding. All of that sort of thing. It is a nice example of that sort of advice and features one of my favorite lines henry clay says at the beginning of paragraph 3 i believe there are more good asses in kentucky than any other country in the world. Thats a fun live there. Line there. It shows just how sought his advice was and how good it could be. The volume on the desk next to it is henry clays stock journal. He kept his love to record stock cap this book to record stock transactions record breeding records, pedigrees. All sorts of interesting information in here about the farm at ashland. It is important to us in understanding that farm and understanding what he did here and how he did it. The other area in which henry clay made great contributions agriculturally, particularly in lexington, in terms of making lexington what it was with forces. Henry clay had a number of great horses here. He had a prize bull and two prize mayors. They were all thorough bread. The females have lines of descent that include 11 Kentucky Derby winners and numerous other stakes winners. In this years triple crown races, while we cannot claim american pharaoh, we can claim the minto who ran in the Kentucky Derby and the belmont against american hero. We are now on the second floor landing. We have one of our most important portraits of henry clay. We have many, but you would rise few that would rise to the level of importance of this one. The reason is this portrait is a visual encapsulation of his political ideology. This is a copy of an original painted here at ashland in 1842 by artist from philadelphia and was commissioned by the wig whigs. They wanted to have a visual image to help him get nominated for the presidency and ultimately elected in 1844. Claims at ideology was henry clays ideology with economic in nature. He felt the best way to ensure the nation remain united and intact with a Strong National economy that blended the agricultural economy of the south and industrial economy of the north together as one into one Strong National economy. You can see at the bottom corner, the and shovel bienville and shovel representing the industrial north and the plow and cattle representing the agricultural south. Clay called his plan the american system and it has several planks. The first was something he called internal improvements. That would include roads bridges, waterways and other sorts of infrastructure funded by the federal government. Today, lexington sits at the confluence of i75 and i64. Clay would have loved that you could go any direction from his hometown with equal ease on that type of infrastructure. Henry clay had a system of protective tariffs to protect our economy from foreign influence, particularly british influence. Finally, he wanted to create a bank of the United States that would lend money to state banks which could be lent out to stimulate industry and agriculture, furthering the american economy. One of the things that is interesting is that this is personal space on the second floor. Family space. The room we are in is henry clays bedroom. It is set up with his bed which he used for about 20 years. He liked this bed so much, he wrote a newspaper testimonial praising its maker, and helped the man who designed it to patent the design. He said it slept very comfortably. For all that, he was not home a great deal. Clay traveled a great deal for a variety of reasons. He traveled to politics, for law, for business, he traveled for pleasure and he often traveled for his health. He was a man for reasons that are not entirely clear he seemed , to be challenged healthwise and had a lot of Health Complaints over the course of his life. He would often go places like this spring here in kentucky or white sulfur springs, where the greenbrier is today in west virginia, to take the waters or engage in other treatments. When he traveled, he used some of the items we have here. We have a hatbox with his name and address that he carried his top hat. This is a lap desk, which was kind of the laptop of his day. The cane belonged to henry clay and gave it to a fellow gentlemen, which was a common gift during this era. One thing that is interesting about the cane is that there is a little blade inside. We dont know if he ever used the blade, but he was an immensely popular figure. When he showed up, these someone whose visage was very well known. So people wanted to meet him and get to know him, to interact with this famous and important person. That could create somewhat of a frenzy. For example, the case were he showed up in town and a group of ladies assembled who wanted locks of his hair as a souvenir. As soon as he got off of the stage, they basically charged him and chased him down the street clipping their scissors trying to get a lock of hair. Henry eventually locked himself in a hotel for 30 minutes until the crowd dispersed. Having a little personal protection was probably a little bit of comfort to him. This is the most impressive of all of the artifacts. This is henry clays trunk. It was made for him you can see on the inside, it is pretty spectacular. We recently discovered in photographing it that it is heavily decorated on the outside and right there is an image of henry clay and above it is a beehive. Some stars and drapery around the edges. It is an incredible piece of work in addition to being a very functional trunk. He was a very interesting human being, as interesting as he was politically or as a farmer, he was more interesting as a person. People loved him, even if they disagreed politically. He loved to gamble, which was not uncommon for people of his social class in the south. Lucretia, who you see behind me, was asked if they concerned her that he so often gambled. She said, heavens no, he always often wins. Usually he did. Sometimes he lost but usually you could find a way of getting out of it. He could win Something Back or assuage a debt. On the mantle, we have a tantalus. This is a kit to be used in a carriage. It contains several decanters , a number of glasses, all in a little metal frame. He carried it in his coach and it would be filled with any number of beverages. We know from receipts that he enjoyed a number of good beverages sherry, port, and he was a kentuckian, so he drank bourbon. Clay was criticized for these habits. Anyone who thinks dirty campaigns are a new thing, need only look back to henry clay to see that is not the case. We have a great cartoon on the wall that shows a group of citizens throwing sticks and rocks at him. Clay is standing opposite and has another man by the collar and that is his running mate. He was chosen because he was the not because he was the most famous or most qualified but he did not dual, drink gamble our curse. He was a very religious man. The thought was if that concerns you about henry clay, we have this guy and it will be ok. It is one of the things that challenged him in his campaign and perhaps one of the reasons he lost votes in the campaigns where he ran for president. Henry clays enemies said many things about him. Being a card player, they often accused him of being a cheap or cheat, a black leg they , basically impugned his character or reputation going to the fact he did play cards and that he might cheat in politics or public affairs. Of course they chastise him for his views over slavery. People from the north did not like the fact that he was a slaveholder and thought it was hypocritical that he owned slaves and argued for their immense emancipation. The room we are in now is a bit of interpretive speculation. We dont know that he had this space but as a wealthy man, he likely would have had a room off his bedroom where he would have been able to dress and get ready for the day called the dressing room. That is where we are now. When of the most important issues of clays time was slavery. Of course, that issue occupied the entire nation. And clay knew that and had to deal with that. He dealt with it must personally as a slave owner. He owned anywhere between 30 and 50 people at a time and probably 75 over the course of his life. He was a significant slaveowner in the state of kentucky. The most Famous Family of slaves here in ashland were the dupuys. They are wellknown because lottie actually sued henry clay for his freedom. Her freedom. In 1829, she filed a lawsuit. In washington. He was serving as secretary of state and she had been there for a while, living at the decatur house, taking care of him and became convinced she and her daughter were due their freedom. The suit was heard but unfortunately was unsuccessful. Clay ultimately did emancipate them all. He was a slaveowner owner from birth and inherited slaves from his fathers will and that colored his view on the subject. He grew up in a slaveowning aristocracy. Clay believe a solution needed to be found to deal with the issue of slavery, something the country could accept as a whole and move forward with and ultimately resolved once and for all what should be done about slavery. He came up with a solution he believed would avoid social chaos as a result of a sudden abolition of slavery which would result in a massive free africanamericans that would not be accept it into society. Accepted into society by white americans. The solution he came up with was the american colonization society. He presided over the founding of that organization on it had as december 21, 1816. Its goal convincing slave owners to emancipate their slaves and colonize them to liberia on the west coast of africa. Very few americans bought into it. Slaveowners did not want to do it, they didnt want to free slaves. And abolitionists. It was blatant hypocrisy. Very few americans were left in what he thought was a middle ground, so it did not work out. Clay was so sure of it that he did a speech for a friend that he was going to give in public a short time later. And his friend said after, you cant do this. It will never work. You cannot take this. He will never get elected. Clay said, i dont care. I should rather be right than be president. What he meant was it doesnt matter if i get elected. What matters is whats right for the country. I must always do what is right for the country and what is would write the country is to support this ideology. This will get us through and deal with the issue. Unfortunately, we know that it did not, but that is what he believed was the way forward. Clay ended his life in washington dc. He returned in 1849 to resume his place in the senate. He was always very sick during that time. He had tuberculosis, something he did not really believe for a long time. It took a further and further toll on him. He barely got through the compromise of 1850. He wasnt even in the legislature at the time it was passed. He was the role model in the mid19th century for those who cited him as an insurance as and influence as someone who was a great american. Most notably, abraham lincoln. He campaigned for clay and voted for clay. He quoted clay regularly, 41 times in the Lincoln Douglas debates alone. He thought clay was what one should try to be as a political figure. He carried that forward when he became a representative and ultimately president. Lincoln said in his eulogy, of clay, would we be what we are, what we can be, without henry clay . I believe the answer to that is probably not. He kept the nation moving forward at a critical time in this development. Hes instrumental moving the country from its birth to the ultimate forge which will allow it to emerge into maturity. Throughout the weekend American History tv is featuring lexington, kentucky. Howard to her staff traveled there to learn about its rich history. Learn more about lexington and other stops on the two are at cspan. Org city stewart. You are watching American History tv. All weekend, every weekend on cspan3. You are watching American History tv. All weekend, every weekend on cspan3. To mark the 60th anniversary of the capitol hill newspaper roll call, cspan is featuring the papers reporters who talk about how brokaw covered major news events roll call covered major new news events of the last 60 years. When roll call went to press for the june 6 edition in 1968, they did not yet know what would be the fate of bobby kennedy. They knew he had been shot and they knew he had been rushed to the hospital in los angeles. But they went to press not yet knowing exactly what the outcome would be. So the roll call Editorial Staff at the time and founder actually went ahead with a frontpage editorial in which they addressed the broader issues of the day regarding violence and particularly, related to guns but also more generally, which was a topic of concern for roll call throughout the 1960s. In those days, the newspaper ran a regular series of editorial features and had an editorial column each week. One of the topics of concern for a lot of people in washington both on capitol hill and elsewhere, was the more general violence of the era. That included the riots, in the city. When rfk was shot, it became an obvious time to once again return to that topic. As it was happening, it turned out that the next edition of rowe call would not be for another week. Roll call would not be for another week. They had a situation where they did not actually have an opportunity to report the news of the funeral itself or in fact even Bobby Kennedys death in print. When roll call went to print a week after he had been assassinate. D, they were back to coverage of the way it had covered watching 10 since its inception. That meant there were two lead stories on the subject related to the death of rfk. One of which was the speculation that home would be appointed to fill out the unexpired term of his senate seat in new york. That was a situation where the newspaper correctly speculated that the best candidate on paper was charles goodell, a congressman from upstate. The will know that he was the father of the current commissioner of the National Football league, roger goodell. And he didnt serve very long in the senate, but was the republican governors appointee to fill out the seat after there had been some speculation that the mayor of new york city might have an appointed. The other story that roll call explored is goes back to the newspapers traditional focus on the capitol hill community. And the campus life for those who were around the hill. There were new security concerns obviously, following the assassination of someone who had been a United States senator and running for president. And so there was both an action taken to introduce legislation designed to make it a federal crime, or an sure it was a member of congress or executive branch official was assassinated. I was not something that would need to be handled at the state level, but the federal government government could need to step in. The other thing that was a matter of concern was how exactly theo contact the folks in the Capitol Police in the event of a Security Threat on the hill. Roll call was once again focused on Police Matters and the way that the members of congress can get a hold of the Law Enforcement personnel on the hill. This weekend as the cities stewart travels across the country. To learn more about the literally life and history of lexington, kentucky. Edward preacher had a tumultuous career. In the mid1940s, if you had asked who is a bright shining star in american politics on a national scale, someone who would be governor or perhaps president , a lot of people would have said ed prichard of kentucky. He was one of those people who worked in the white house when he was in his early 20s. He seemed destined for great things and then came back to kentucky in the 1940s. Was indicted for stuffing a ballot box went to prison, and so that incredible promise just flamed out. We also visit ashland, the former home of speaker of the house, senator and secretary of state henry clay. The mansion at ashland is a unique situation. It fell into disrepair and could not be saved. We rebuilt on the original foundation. We have a home that is essentially a federal style home as henry clay had with italian details, architectural elements, etc. , and an added layer of aesthetic detail added by henry clays daughter, greatgranddaughter, and so on. See all of our programs from lexington saturday evening and sunday afternoon on American History tv on cspan3. Announcer American History tv was live on saturday from marion, ohio, for a modern symposium on modern first