"Sir, if you wish to avoid foreign commerce; give up all your prosperity. It is the thing protected, not the instrument of protection, that involves you in war. Commerce engenders collision, collision war, and war, the argument supposes, leads to despotism. Would the councils of that statesman be deemed who would recommend that the nation should be unarmed—that in the art of war, the material spirit, and martial exercises, should be prohibited—…—and that the great body of the people should be taught that the national happiness was to be found in perpetual peace alone? No, sir."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Political leadersMembers of the United States SenatePoliticians from VirginiaPoliticians from KentuckySpeakers of the United States House of Representatives‎
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Speech on the Increase of the Navy, House of Representatives (22 January 1812)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Clay
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Henry Clay
Henry Clay (12 April 1777 – 29 June 1852) was a leading American statesman and orator who served in both the House of Representatives and Senate. Known as "The Great Compromiser" and "The Great Pacifier" for his ability to bring others to agreement, he was the founder and leader of the Whig Party and a leading advocate of programs for modernizing the economy, especially tariffs to protect industry, a national bank and internal improvements to promote canals, ports and railroads.
24 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Henry Clay →
Related Quotes
"How often are we forced to charge fortune with partiality towards the unjust!"
"I have no commiseration for princes. My sympathies are reserved for the great mass of mankind …."
"Whether we assert our rights by sea, or attempt their maintenance by land—whithersoever we turn ourselves, this phant…"
"It consists in the genius of the nation, which is prone to peace; in that desire to arrange, by friendly negotiation,…"
"I am not, sir, in favor of cherishing the passion of conquest. I am permitted … to indulge the hope of seeing, ere lo…"
"What is the nature of this government? It is emphatically federal, vested with an aggregate of special powers for gen…"
"In all cases where incidental powers are acted upon, the principal and incidental ought to be congenial with each oth…"
"The great advantage of our system of government over all others, is, that we have a written constitution, defining it…"
"If you wish to avoid foreign collision, you had better abandon the ocean."
"The gentleman cannot have forgotten his own sentiment, uttered even on the floor of this House, "Peaceably if we can,…"