Background
Clement Comer Clay was born on December 17, 1789 in Halifax County, Virginia, United States. He was the son of William Clay, a Revolutionary soldier, and Rebecca Comer. He was removed as a boy to Grainger County, Tennessee.
( The Making of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative and Inte...)
The Making of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative and International Law, 1600-1926, brings together foreign, comparative, and international titles in a single resource. Its International Law component features works of some of the great legal theorists, including Gentili, Grotius, Selden, Zouche, Pufendorf, Bijnkershoek, Wolff, Vattel, Martens, Mackintosh, Wheaton, among others. The materials in this archive are drawn from three world-class American law libraries: the Yale Law Library, the George Washington University Law Library, and the Columbia Law Library. Now for the first time, these high-quality digital scans of original works are available via print-on-demand, making them readily accessible to libraries, students, independent scholars, and readers of all ages. +++++++++++++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: +++++++++++++++ Harvard Law School Library LP2H0005400 18430101 The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources, Part II Tuskaloosa: Marmaduke J. Slade, 1843 xliv, 1, 768 p. 8vo United States
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Clement Comer Clay was born on December 17, 1789 in Halifax County, Virginia, United States. He was the son of William Clay, a Revolutionary soldier, and Rebecca Comer. He was removed as a boy to Grainger County, Tennessee.
Clay obtained his early education in Grainger County, Tennessee. He was graduated from the East Tennessee College (now the University of Tennessee) in 1807, read law under Hugh Lawson White, in Knoxville, and was admitted to the bar in 1809.
In 1811 Clay removed to Huntsville, then in the Mississippi Territory, the center of Virginian influence in the Tennessee Valley, where he engaged successfully in the practise of his profession. Though primarily devoted to the practise of law, Clay gave much time to public service for more than thirty years of his life. He was first a private and then adjutant of a battalion in the Creek War of 1813 ; he was a member of the territorial legislature of Alabama in 1817-1819; and he was chosen in 1819 as a delegate to the first constitutional convention of Alabama. Immediately upon the organization of the judiciary of the new commonwealth, he became chief justice (1820 -1823), resigning to resume his private practise.
In 1827 he was elected to the state legislature and served as speaker of the lower house. He was elected to membership in the lower house of Congress in 1829 and served thereafter by successive reelection without opposition until 1835. After his nomination by the Democrats for the governorship in 1835, he gave his support to Van Buren for the presidency, although his personal preference was for his friend and law teacher, Judge Hugh Lawson White. Because of this, the supporters of White in Alabama made a determined fight against him, but Clay was successful before the people, defeating General Enoch Parsons by 13, 000 votes, the largest majority given up to that time to any candidate for the governorship.
In the spring of during the first year of Clay’s term as governor, the state had serious difficulties with the Creek Indians, and, though Clay was charged with inactivity and neglect of duty in his handling of the situation, he appears to have been active and energetic in cooperating with the federal troops in removing the Indian peril from the state. In the latter part of his administration, he was seriously hampered by the bad economic conditions, culminating in the panic of Despite these difficulties and criticisms, he was chosen before the expiration of his term as governor to the seat in the Senate made vacant by the appointment of Senator McKinley to the Supreme Court bench. Clay supported the administration and served satisfactorily but without notable distinction till 1841, when financial stress and illness in his family caused his resignation.
On his return to Alabama, he was commissioned by the legislature to prepare a digest of the Alabama laws, which he completed in 1843; in that year he served for a few months by appointment as a member of the state supreme court; and, in 1846, he was one of the commissioners appointed to wind up the affairs of the state bank. He then returned to his private law practise in which he was engaged without further interruption for the remainder of his life. Though he was an ardent advocate of the secession movement, he took no active part in the Civil War. When Huntsville was occupied by Federal troops, Clay’s home was seized, his property was dissipated, and he himself was kept for some time under military arrest.
Clement Comer Clay was distinguished for his notable service as chairman of the committee which drafted the first organic law of the state of Alabama. He was instrumental in securing the passage of preemption laws for settlers and “relief laws” for the benefit of distressed purchasers of government lands in Alabama.
( The Making of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative and Inte...)
Clement Comer Clay was a member of the Democratic Party. He took an active part in the debates on national affairs during his six years of service in the House, supporting Jackson in his attacks on the Bank, in his removal of the deposits, and in his opposition to nullification in South Carolina, though he refused, as a believer in state sovereignty and state rights, to vote for the Force Bill.
Clay married Susannah Claiborne Withers on April 4, 1815. They had three sons: Clement Claiborne Clay, John Withers Clay, and Hugh Lawson Clay.
