Compromised

"Clay came closest to winning the White House in 1844 but lost to James K. Polk.The skills and personality that got things done in Washington struck many Americans as evidence of the corruption and lack of principle that Jackson never tired of denouncing, particularly where Clay was concerned. But voters were reacting to more than personal attributes and tactical errors. A significant number in Clay’s own party wouldn’t vote for a slaveholder; some issues were beyond compromise."

Andrew Cayton in The New York Times reviews Robert V. Remini's At the Edge of the Precipice: Henry Clay and the Compromise That Saved the Union and David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler's Henry Clay: The Essential American.