Clement Claiborne Clay, American senator, Confederate agent. member Alabama Legislature, 1842, 44, 45; member United States Senate (Democrat) from Alabama, 1853-1861, withdrew from Senate with Alabama’s secession; member Confederate Senate (elected by Alabama Legislature), 1861-1863; member secret and confidential mission to Canada by Jefferson Davis, 1864.
Background
CLAY, Clement Claiborne was born on December 13, 1816 in Huntsville, Alabama, United States, United States. Son of Clement Comer and Susanna Claiborne (Withers) Clay. His father, a self-made man, was governor of Alabama from 1835 to 1837.
Education
Graduated from the University Alabama, 1835. Law degree University of Virginia, 1839.
Career
The younger Clay received his B. A. in 1834 and his M. A. in 1837 from the University of Alabama. While his father was governor, he served as his private secretary. In 1839, he graduated from the University of Virginia Law School, was admitted to the bar, and joined his father’s law firm in Huntsville.
His marriage to Virginia Caroline Tunstall on February 1, 1843, was childless. Always a religious man, he joined the Episcopal church in 1867. Clay, a Democrat, edited the Huntsville Democrat from 1840 until he was elected to the state legislature in 1842.
He served in the legislature from 1842 until 1846. From 1846 to 1848, he was judge of the County Court of Madison County. He was elected to theU.S. Senate in 1852 and was reelected in 1858 on a state sovereignty platform.
A secessionist and close friend of Jefferson Davis, Clay remained loyal to the administration throughout the war. He was elected to the first Confederate Senate but lost his bid for reelection in 1863 to Richard W. Walker, ostensibly because Clay was too loyal to the Davis administration. In the Senate he opposed the formation of a Confederate Supreme Court, and proposed a bill to draft foreigners into the Confederate Army.
He served on the Commerce, Conference, and Military Affairs Committees. In 1864, he was sent as a Confederate diplomatic agent to Canada. He had previously served as a foreign policy advisor to the president.
At the end of the war, he was charged with complicity in the murder of President Lincoln but was released in 1866. Clay settled on his plantation “Wildwood” near Huntsville and practiced law. The ordeal of the war left him in ill health, and permanent restrictions kept him from public service in the postwar years.
Religion
"Peculiar institution" of slavery was not only expedient but also ordained by God and upheld in Holy Scripture.
Politics
Stands for preserving slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites. Every individual state is sovereign, even to the point of secession.
Membership
Member Alabama Legislature, 1842, 44, 45. Member United States Senate (Democrat) from Alabama, 1853-1861, withdrew from Senate with Alabama’s secession. Member Confederate Senate (elected by Alabama Legislature), 1861-1863.
Member secret and confidential mission to Canada by Jefferson Davis, 1864.