All matters of “what if,” since Clay never got close to the White House. I think he was hard-headed enough that he would have done what was necessary.
Tis true....and he was hard headed. Personally I believe he was too much of a politician to have done the right thing in such a sectional crisis as the Nullification crisis. I don’t think Clay would have done something which would have hurt him politically.
Jackson’s Nullification Proclamation did hurt him politically. It’s message of a perpetual Union, claiming secession is treason, was damaging to the Democratic party, and to Jackson’s reputation as a “states rights’” man. As a matter if fact when one of Jackson’s aides asked him to remove some statements in the proclamation that stated secession was treason....Jackson stated: “Those are my words, and I will not have them removed or striked out.” Some actually thought the nation was experiencing a political revolution with Jackson and the likes of Daniel Webster actually agreeing on where soverignty truly resided in the U.S.
Believing Clay could have put down Nullification successfully is a “what if.” Jackson proved he could do what was necessary, wheras during the Crisis Clay was too concerned with working with Calhoun to end the crisis in such a way as to make Jackson look impotent.