Three times candidate for the presidency of the United States, Henry Clay never let his personal ambitions override his firm belief in the ideals of sound government and the preservation of the freedoms insured by the Constitution. His famous words, "I'd rather be right than be President," are the key to a driving personality whose longrange views saved the Union in three dramatic crises, and earned him prominence as The Great Compromiser.

Born on a Virginia farm, Henry Clay went to Richmond at fourteen and worked in a grocery store, but he dreamed of practicing law. In his spare time he visited the Statehouse, thrilling to the speeches of James Monroe, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. He became secretary to a judge, studied law and passed his bar examinations. Then he went to Kentucky where he established himself as an outstanding criminal lawyer. He represented Aaron Burr, whom he believed innocent of conspiracy, and won him his freedom, realizing later that he had been duped by a master traitor.

Clay served in the Kentucky legislature and was later elected to Congress where his career was meteoric and stormy. As speaker in the House of Representatives, he formulated his American System, a national program of internal improvements. To pacify sectional interests, he eloquently carried through the Missouri Compromise of 1821. In 1833 when a crisis developed over the tariff, his brilliant oratory and statesmanship brought about the Compromise Tariff. He held the unpopular belief that slavery must be abolished and was instrumental in shaping the Compromise of 1850, by which he hoped to avoid civil war.

Henry Clay's story is full of intrigue, suspense and conflict, and the author paints a huge and colorful canvas, unraveling the tangled politics of the era and revealing famous people in vivid detail.

From the book

"The Man Who Wouldn't Give Up is the story of a great American, Henry Clay. I grew up in a community steeped in the Clay tradition. Ashland, his home from early manhood, is less than a mile from where I live. However, I must confess that, until I began research on Clay's life, I failed to realize how truly great he was. I knew, of course, that he was a national figure, but the days of Clay and Jackson seemed distant and remote. That is no longer true. A search among the books, paper and folklore of the period—yes, there is a Clay folklore—revealed a man with a powerful, dynamic, compelling personality. More than once he saved the nation from utter disaster. Prince Hal, as his admirers called him, not only had the courage of his convictions; he had convictions, a commodity possessed by all too few persons then and now." Katharine Wilkie, From the book