My current reading regimen included the biography, Henry Clay: the Essential American, written by David and Jeanne Heidler. My interest in Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster was piqued during my college years from a poll taken to name the five most eminent persons to have held membership in the United States Senate. These three of the five were colleagues during some years, and vital to the Great Compromise of 1850 that delayed the outbreak of the American Civil War, and the attempt to create two countries from one. (The other two Senators were LaFollette of Wisconsin, and Taft of Ohio.) Taft, son of a president, was the only living one, of the five, at the time of the poll. Each of the five was quite different than the others in political orientation, in party relationships, in context to society, and personal lifestyles. At their best, each felt commitment (as each interpreted it) to the Constitution of the United States, and each was held in high regard by their constituent supporters, as each also was diminished by significant percentages of their populations. Reading the biographies of these men, and others of extensive influence, one comes away with a rather firm feeling about several concepts of the dealings of mankind with persons and society. Further, there is the underlying matter of the response of the general population to the various persons, and the influence of facts and attitudes upon public policy – and of the influence of lies, chicanery, even law breaking to put down political opponents. The large stew of factors including social skills, egos, rumors, and what-have-you, have both made and broken persons in their families, fortunes and careers. Often, events with their aftermaths become such that one wonders that much got done in any era, or gets done (when it does) without unnecessary suffering, unfairness, and prevaricating. Factors of truth, respect, and universal values are reduced. Good will is seriously wounded. Mankind needs good will. A part of the coming of Jesus was to bring blessing to persons of good will. (Luke 2:11)
The tensions of the leaders among the founding fathers of the United States, which might have destroyed the new vision after the revolution, were monitored to significant degree by George Washington. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson avoided speaking to each other for decades. Hamilton was at odds with those who would have a reduced central government. Some of this was so intense it led to duels, with persons losing their lives – including Hamilton’s. In the first half of the 19th Century the tensions were ongoing, quite significant, and greatness beckoned a number of persons, but ugliness intensified to smudge that talent. Clay was wounded in one of two duels over differences. Had he died, as a result of these selfish acts, he would have left his wife to care for their numerous children. Tensions relating to Henry Clay, John Calhoun, Daniel Webster, Andrew Jackson (who killed a man in a duel, and carried a bullet in to old age from another encounter), and others, make the current political ferocity seem mild – and, it is ugly in its present forms. At least candidates are not physically shooting at each other. Jackson and his supporters attacked the John Quincy Adams administration, when Clay was Secretary of State, effectively stalling the government for the single term Adams served. (Stall is now rather common.) Politics are precedent to human needs. Christians ought to be insightful, supporting service systems and conduct.
What emerges in this context of study? One large lesson was populations wavering: to accept rumor, even enlarge it; to presume good is found in partisan loyalties; to permit emotions to interfere too greatly in reasoned discourse – and other lessons follow. Points here can be extended. In making freedom and right work in government, the population: needs to be instructed (educated), needs to know how to continue that education (informed), needs to have ideals (values) guiding partisanship, and needs to support leadership that serves the citizens in God’s common grace. (Affirmations of Palm Sunday and condemnation on Good Friday imply the general story of mankind in confusion about and within society.) In some effective way there ought to appear large support of the Christian public for those media sources that function with the idealism of truth, communicating as widely as possible the arguments and evidence for variant sides of the issues of life. It means respecting serious persons in encounters. In secular news reports, we will not likely find the point of view reflected from devout persons competent to contribute. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020