It was a dark time in American history. A crisis was darkening the country and had pinned the North and the South against each other. Tensions are escalating and civil war appears imminent. One courageous man took on the challenge of resolving the conflict: Congressman Henry Clay of Kentucky. Despite his great age and illness, he managed to develop a series of compromise measures and convince both parties to agree to them. This compromise, the Compromise of 1850, may have delayed the Civil War for a decade, giving the North ample time to prepare (Remini). But that wasn't the only compromise in which Clay played a role. Clay is well known for developing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise Tariff of 1833, as well as the aforementioned Compromise of 1850. These compromises earned Clay the name the "Great Compromise" (Van Deusen) and saved the Union of Discord. Henry Clay's first major compromise was the Missouri Compromise of 1820, created after a huge debate over slavery that threatened to tear the Union apart. The conflict began in 1817, when Missouri sought statehood. Congress decided to pass a law to allow Missouri to develop a state constitution in 1819, and Representative James Tallmadge of New York wanted to add an anti-slavery amendment to the law to stop the introduction of slaves in the state and free the slaves already present at the time. the age of twenty-five. This caused a huge outcry over the national government's right to restrict slavery, resulting in Tallmadge's bill passing the House but failing in the Senate. When Congress received a request for Maine statehood in December 1819, the Senate seized the opportunity for compromise. He passed a bill to admit Maine as an open space...... middle of paper ......8c5409a3ee5e59>.Rush, Thomas. “Henry Clay (1777-1852).” American history from the Revolution to Reconstruction. GMW and Web. March 9, 2014. “The Tariff of Abominations.” History, Art and Archives, United States House of Representatives. Np, and Web. March 11, 2014. “Tariff of 1832 and Clay Compromise.” Seahorse. Regents of the University of California and the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education, 2006. Web. March 11, 2014. .Van Deusen, Glyndon G. “Henry Clay.” Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2014. Web. March 9. 2014. .