CLAY, Henry (1777-1862). Autograph letter signed ("H. Clay"), to David Mundell, Ashland, Kentucky, 12 October 1848. 1 page, 4to, minutely traced over (by Clay?), note in a later hand on recto, laid down on linen.
"WE HAVE HAD GOOD AND BAD PRESIDENTS" BUT "THE BAD...DO NO MORE THAN SLIGHTLY...RETARD THE PUBLIC'S ADVANCEMENT"
A FINE CLAY LETTER AS HE PHILOSOPHICALLY REFLECTS UPON HIS FAILURE TO WIN THE PRESIDENCY. He thanks Mundell for his "friendly sentiments towards me...and your disappointment in my not receiving the nomination at Philadelphia... Personally I ought to rejoice in the decision of the Convention; and if I feel any regrets, they were for my friends..." The Whigs nominated war hero Zachary Taylor instead, and Clay hopes that "we may have a President faithful to his trust and true to his Country. We have had good and bad Presidents, and it is a consoling reflection that the American Nation possesses such elements of prosperity that the bad Presidents cannot destroy it, and have been able to do no more than slightly to retard the public's advancement."
[With:] CALHOUN, John C. Autograph letter signed ("J. C. Calhoun"), to J. M. Benedict, Senate Chamber, 18 April 1848. 1 page, 8vo. Calhoun--Clay's great foil in the 1850 crisis--here encloses $3 to a bookseller for "Van Amringe's Natural History of Man" (An Investigation of the Theories of the Natural History of Man), published in 1848. A fine association of these two Senatorial titans. Together 2 items. (2)
CLAY, Henry (1777-1862). Autograph letter signed ("H. Clay"), to David Mundell, Ashland, Kentucky, 12 October 1848. 1 page, 4to, minutely traced over (by Clay?), note in a later hand on recto, laid down on linen.
"WE HAVE HAD GOOD AND BAD PRESIDENTS" BUT "THE BAD...DO NO MORE THAN SLIGHTLY...RETARD THE PUBLIC'S ADVANCEMENT"
A FINE CLAY LETTER AS HE PHILOSOPHICALLY REFLECTS UPON HIS FAILURE TO WIN THE PRESIDENCY. He thanks Mundell for his "friendly sentiments towards me...and your disappointment in my not receiving the nomination at Philadelphia... Personally I ought to rejoice in the decision of the Convention; and if I feel any regrets, they were for my friends..." The Whigs nominated war hero Zachary Taylor instead, and Clay hopes that "we may have a President faithful to his trust and true to his Country. We have had good and bad Presidents, and it is a consoling reflection that the American Nation possesses such elements of prosperity that the bad Presidents cannot destroy it, and have been able to do no more than slightly to retard the public's advancement."
[With:] CALHOUN, John C. Autograph letter signed ("J. C. Calhoun"), to J. M. Benedict, Senate Chamber, 18 April 1848. 1 page, 8vo. Calhoun--Clay's great foil in the 1850 crisis--here encloses $3 to a bookseller for "Van Amringe's Natural History of Man" (An Investigation of the Theories of the Natural History of Man), published in 1848. A fine association of these two Senatorial titans. Together 2 items. (2)
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