Definition of turnbuckle. : a device that usually consists of a link with screw threads at both ends, that is turned to bring the ends closer together, and that is used for tightening a rod or stay.
Such splintering had not yet led to formal party organization, but later the faction led by Andrew Jackson would evolve into the Democratic Party, while the factions led by John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay would become the National Republican Party and later the Whig Party.
Henry Clay Biography. Henry Clay was a towering figure in American politics in the middle part of the 19th century, a presidential aspirant whose political skills earned him the nickname âThe Great Compromiser.â. Clay grew up in Virginia in the Revolutionary War period, and in his early 20s he made his name as a trial lawyer in the frontier of Kentucky. A businessman, landowner, farmer, horse breeder and politician, Clay spent his early career in the House of Representatives â building power as Speaker of the House â and was appointed twice to fill out terms in the U.S. senate (1806-07 and 1810-11).