first speaker tonight has written "america's great debate" which is a fabulous read the moment when henry clay, steven douglas, john c calhoun, daniel webster are there debating the future of america. it could actually be called the apiecement of 1850. and that is what i say to this book that we just published and we kcan -- he is a journalist ad he writes for a number of newspapers including the "wall street journal." each though he reviewed my book on millard fillmoore, we are still friends. he gave me a wonderful review and i thank him for that publicly. i'm delighted to have fergus start this conference. >> good morning. first let me thank paul, lauren and the u.s. capitol society for making this possible. each one of which is several which i have attended have been fascinating in its own way. you are running a tadd late so i'm going to dive in and move quickly. i'm going to be talking about the joint committee on the conduct of the war that was a committee whose job which created itself to monitor the conduct of the war. and how did it come to be, who was on it and what effect did it have

the moment when henry clay steven douglas, john calhoun, daniel webster, all up there debating the future of america. fergus and i disagree somewhat on the outcome. i believe it should actually be called the appeasement of 1850 rather than the compromise of 1850. and that is what i say in this book that we just published. but we can debate that, in any event, fergus is a regular contributor to the smithsonian magazine and a journalist and writes for the a number of newspapers including the wall street journal. even though he reviewed my book in the wall street journal on millard philmore, we're still friends. actually, he gave me a wonderful review and i thank him for that publicly. i'm not sure if that's appropriate but i do it anyways, i'm deleted to have fergus start this conference. >> thank you. good morning, everyone. i assume you can hear me perfectly well. first, let me thank paul and don kennen and lauren and historical society for making this possible. not only this conference but the annual conference as each one of which is several of which i've attended -- each fascinating in

henry clay nearly killed himself trying to pass his compromise and went to nantucket to recover and senator douglas from illinois picked up the compromise and offered each piece of it separately and they all passed with senator houston being the only senator to vote for each piece. so we don't want to go so fast in identifying a consolidation site that we don't do an appropriate job on the second repository, but we've been stuck so long on the yucca stalemate that my hope, mr. chairman, is we can find prudent ways to move ahead on the consolidation site while at the same time being very careful as we work through the authorization legislation to go aggressively for a repository and let the processes learn from one another and eventually be the same process. and that will not be derailed by the yucca debate. it's a -- you know, we have conclusively demonstrated that we have a big difference of opinion over yucca mountain. and i don't think we need 25 more years to do that. so we also, i think, have everybody here, and if anyone disagrees with that, i hope you say so, that even if we opened y

coming up in 45 minutes, congressman henry clay hard to come a democrat of texas discusses u.s.ionships with the new mexican president. scott garrett, republican of new jersey a member of the house but mitchell services committee will address the fight over tax cuts to provide sequestration, and pp the secretary's

onddpidntjan,ingrini s, neeurly for his part henry clay never understood andrew jackson's populaty. b et get batln w rd sa c n ust holg30hm quieybfoe omatmara sodi ne. jackson blamed clay for his flight status because you think campaigns are nasty now. he shouldgo bakto h aif n cued ly ftu olr oa. chauncey quincy adams was a minister there and they cleaned that jackson was actually he d courshe lin n bus ad sie pton rnie a e alarhf and said thecalled mrs. jackson and died suddenly in 1820 i r c firs t atmat in4. the rngs eranubns erreerb jackson, clay and john quincy adams. and the results were sit. jan thp vot t idhamjri heco us.se prtas clas ke claim with the bad luck finished urth in the house of representatives for nsat tsaho ick ll re. keky sltu said crawford had a trope. i can't vote forcrwfor ha nr soll orhnncms. adthadayreofte people for he sold out his vote and m the reason i'm telling you all of this b w eo plaesrs we'ly relies jackson was so in the former republic. we started thinking the only way to be jackson was to be n. t llsae a co cttneey t oizaian ck. eeopheo a mmte

theamerican system as conceived by clay d an orou thub gh t endorse henry clay, if they have been around back then. play one of the federal government to help a lot with all sorts of things including what he called eternal improved, ose bridg, cs rds whhegerell meovrrl,has done a lot of work on infrastructure and to say that we should be doing more to build and rebuild our infstructure, i want somebody to suggest to him that we should stop using that word and go back to ay's dot soeltmpovets tt d 'sraly ahe hamilton and clay also both saw the federal governnt as having an opportunity, and in the nd of respnsibility, to help build anayca uit aanufacturing nation. veshride nre arxo did, long before president obama's stimulus. because he wanted to give aid to the states to do the projects he felt needed to be done for our nation. in frustrati once when his opponents were sayng thhi mactg r coitna clay said with great impatience, do we live in the onlyountry in the world with a constitution that is written for other countries but not our own an so, lkmpogss clay expressed frustration with th

henry clay was probably the eatest legislatu in ameran he t alyor t he edak e house on the first ballot in the oath of office. d wainrestlycze hee iheou y pr hc ceremonious. and he's not the factor most powerful person and it wasn't waystayhy dcha legislators get on wet committee. so he transformed and formed a party. excuse me, tnsferring it vefivd whe te i mse efeia leader and that mente believed that government and the federalistsw lilpsts tion hg cohaeaitit t adequately. it developed a latterly ann hamilton believesjh. y whersn, he a o oem neelse who led a group called the warthog's and the british are cpturing the pu fhe ae al iee r112bse it was an absolute disaster. basically we lost the war. robotically they ere preoccupied wth this g naed po. wd orch c on crai the ea osh a itr didn't have any industrial brave spirit of the british are blockading our ort 't aeacmon enana k. e ow tby brh.thhe h w the advantage of fighting on their home court, with such terrible infrastructureould move troops around the y. cnt oy h thto etam ro nnaventt ther sm a brilliant ea where he was trying to

his first inaugural when writing it in springfield, sent for three documents, the declaration, henry clay's-- >> your guy. >> nullification proclamation. he understood as mi was saying, the spine of the country. and he was writing a chapter in a moment where the story could end. i think that -- there was no more exo sen shall crisis than that war and i think that summer. >> there was also something if you think about it that's important to lincoln's greatness in the sense -- george herbert walker bush, because of his experience in world war ii understood war, so he did not go to baghdad. abraham lincoln, because of the closeness, the proximity of that war, brother against brother, understood the concept of war and the violence that comes with war and it's interesting to note their actions, their behaviors. he didn't send the letter to meade because who knew what would happen in terms of prolonging the war. >> i have to say also, we talk about all of lincoln's strengths of character, the -- i think the most remarkable, doris, was his ability to see this horror all the way through and to fina

henry clay nearly killed himself trying to pass the compromise and went to nantucket to recov ilisketr dougl f piofary, t ad h nhton g only senator to vote for each piece. so what we don't want to -- we don't want to goso t thwedn rat job on the second repository but we have been stuck so long on the mrai, optlemate, that my whole, fi dwao wiooe sme min ryefs work through the authorization legislation to go aggressively for a repository,aletprce eafrnethnd anati dl e debate. you know, we have cclusively demonstrated that we have a big difference of opinion over yucca mounind i n'hiw soal t hha disagrees with that i hope you will say so. even if we open yucca mountain we will soon be ormaybe it aly ,aeeday will be the seco olioted ee sersi, or more, and so we are looking for a prudent way to get on with it. so this hearinis gdl ha bery fu >> r >>nk sor carper. this question is tomr. orrell and mr. fettus. i'm tryi to drill wn a lile bohebon whe ie oar as you all know what doe can open a interim or consolidated site unless a permanent site as already opeed fa long do we need to be towa

of you might say that henry clay. henrclay is perhaps the greatest amerin ever to become pren meep swl frin tohrs ge handaou amerig nray pblhegreatest legislature in american history. he was the anomaly important the house of representatives. he was eleed speak of e e hir loafffice. and was interestedly recognized with his peers in the house of money to speaker jobs whics mos. heot fr poulsnnws't al that wayhy dcha sls on cote tsfrm n ored party. excuse me, transferring the office. it was very effective and very passionate p. whene stted i mse efeia eddha ntli tgen d eerts what political partyspirit set i tion hg rtetneet t cohaeait eqly dopltrl ltees jephthah sin. henry clay was the jeffersonian, but he was alo one more tn nees o eda up edrh a isa capturing the conservatives in the british navy. henry clay pushed for the war, pushed for the war and we ll studied the war112bse itanboisr. ball lthr. bollte ee ccd with this guy named napoleon. they wanted to work over which they could move on. so clay realized that he r