An American statesman who was responsible for the creation of the politics and governmental institutions we take for granted today will be the focus of the new History Lecture Series at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College on Feb. 28 when Dr. Hans Schmeisser speaks on Kentuckian Henry Clay.

Titled “Henry Clay and the Making of America,” the 7 p.m. lecture in Howard Auditorium is open to the public at no charge.

“Henry Clay was a titan of an often-forgotten American political landscape, lost in the antebellum decades between the Founding and the Civil War,” Schmeisser, an associate professor of political science at ABAC, said.  “Americans often drift past this momentous period, missing the concurrent majesty and terror saturating those who defined the American calling for ‘a more perfect Union.’”

 Clay was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives, served as the seventh Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and served as the 9th U.S. Secretary of State. He received electoral votes for president in the 1824, 1832, and 1844 presidential elections.  For his role in defusing sectional crises, he earned the nickname of the "Great Compromiser."

“This lecture will grapple with Henry Clay, gauging his life and overwhelming charisma as they elucidate the promise and peril of statesmanship in today’s America,” Schmeisser said.

The final lecture in this series features “The Georgia Chautauqua in Albany,” a presentation by Dr. Wendy Harrison on March 12.