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Henry Clay, Sr - Photograph from Wikipedia by Unknown
An eighteenth century monument towers over The Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, Kentucky from above the grave and sarcophagus of Henry Clay, Sr. who was widely celebrated for his role in brokering the Missouri Compromise. He was even nicknamed "The Great Compromiser". While he ran for president several times, he never succeeded in winning the office but he did serve as the ninth United States Secretary of State under President John Quincy Adams. He lived some twenty miles from Cane Ridge when that great awakening and revival shifted identity and faith for thousands of people in Kentucky and in much of the United States. He never wrote about it nor is he known to have attended any of the meetings. He did, however, maintain a fierce loyalty to Freemasonry, leading its growth in Kentucky, becoming the Grand Master of the first lodge west of the Allegheny Mountains. He said, "I would not renounce or denounce Masonry to become the president of the United States."
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| Henry Clay atop his grave in Lexington, Kentucky |
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| Plaque at Ashland |
Henry Clay owned Ashland. Later the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Lexington, Kentucky was built on its grounds. That institution merged with the University of Kentucky. Then Ashland, the estate, became a historic house museum which is closed to the public in January and February. So, I have not yet been able to see the inside of the buildings but, because the grounds are free and open to the public year-round, I was able to explore them on a blustery day in January.
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| Ashland, January 25, 2018 |
Because my expertise is on the interpretation of diversity at the American historic house museum, and because most of my professional museum experience and research has been done in Missouri, I was especially interested in Henry Clay, Sr. Would the history of race in America be different had he not brokered the Missouri Compromise? Apparently, though the men are not known ever to have met, Abraham Lincoln looked to the work and writing of Henry Clay as models for political thought and leadership. Mary Todd Lincoln was raised just blocks from Ashland. Jefferson Davis was also from Lexington. Could Ashland have served as a kind of ideological hub, or center-point from which decisions were, speaking metaphorically, sent out like lines in a web, for the setting of our nation's geographical and conceptual borders and boundaries? Did one line thrown out from there lead directly to Washington, DC? How does this museum narrate and control the contours of the story-lines emanating from this time and place in the earth? Does what is available to be known from what is preserved and/or interpreted at Ashland today provide any new information about how Henry Clay, the man, interacted with his community and, for my especial focus, with the enslaved work force he held captive? Does this museum push into the hermeneutic space of "inter" that I have shown offers the potential to trigger new questions in its visitors, or is it bound and committed to serve as a "shrine" to a "great man" in the sense that Patricia West, who wrote the book:
Domesticating History, suggests was sometimes inherent to the founding motivations of these house museums starting with Mount Vernon?
I can merely pose these questions based on walking around the grounds and reading the outdoor interpretive text panels that are moldy with grime but which give a well-researched overview of what the museum understands and presents. The text panel on "Slavery At Ashland" is to be commended for naming individuals who were enslaved and for not minimizing discrepancies and inconsistencies touching slavery that could be drawn between Clay's public and private positions. In the text panel on the gardens at Ashland, at least one statement could be alleged, by the juxtaposition of its adjectives, to illustrate the institutional racism that could be at the root of protests and misunderstandings happening across the nation now. The sentence quotes Clay's daughter-in-law about how "'everything [in the gardens] was kept in a most beautiful order' by a
competent white gardener with his
efficient enslaved workers.'" The former executive director of a historic house museum in me was impressed to see ropes around trees on the estate to which were affixed forms to use to "adopt a tree" for a donation of $300. What a great way to reach out to casual visitors who love being outside to help to support the museum!
What I think might be an interesting approach to interpretation at Ashland (which may indeed be there on the inside) could be to explore the idea of compromise as Clay's historic contribution to the United States. I think there are people who would denounce compromise as a divisive rather than unifying leadership and political strategy. Some might counsel for the value of inviting dissent with patience and mutual honor as a means of arriving at consensus instead. Such a conversation might even begin to touch at the roots of today's cultural polarizing tensions and debates. It could explore the idea of compromise with its costs and benefits. Have Clay's compromises delivered as expected? How should and could new compromises for social justice bring new solutions to our land or is there a route to no compromise that could shift the balance of power towards a different kind of justice? Are my questions leading to a false argument? That's the trouble with being a nerd who won't stay in the normal boxes.
Meanwhile, there is a de-comissioned bell installed on the grounds of Ashland that used to be on the ship, the USS Ashland. The ship, named in honor of Clay's estate, was present at several pivotal battles from 1942-1969. The bell, metaphorically again, makes me ask a final set of questions related to interpreting this place, its history and its wider reach. How has this place, and its owner for which it is preserved, impacted this nation and, even the nations? What about its story should continue to be celebrated and passed down to future generations? What about its story should be re-examined and revised to be more insightful, more comprehensive, more inclusive of all the voices that should be mingled to tell it more fully? What needs to be redeemed? What needs to be repudiated and renounced?
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| Right side of text panel about Slavery at Ashland |
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| Right side of text panel about the Gardens at Ashland |
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| Plaque about the bell from the USS Ashland |
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| Bell from USS Ashland |
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