Clay Clubs

Clay Clubs were political organizations that arose spontaneously across the United States in support of Henry Clay's candidacy for president in 1844. In 1842, Sangamon County Whigs organized the Springfield Clay Club. Abraham Lincoln was present and spoke at the inaugural meeting, and he became an active and devoted member of the Springfield club.

Harlow Giles Unger, Henry Clay: America's Greatest Statesman (Boston: De Capo, 2015), 223; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 22 July 1842, 3:3.