Philip CLAYTON

Diplomat lawyer planter Bureaucrat Sub-Cabinet

March 19, 1815 (age 62)

Athens, Georgia, United States, United States

House of Representatives as a Democrat. The younger Clayton, also a Democrat, was trained in the law, graduated first in his class of 1833 at Franklin College (later the University of Georgia), and was admitted to the bar in 1836. He had a son by his marriage in 1836 to Leonora Harper. Clayton ran his father’s plantation in Mississippi before returning to Georgia in 1839, where he edited the Southern Banner at Athens until 1849. From 1849 to 1857, Clayton was second auditor in the U.S. Treasury. Howell Cobb appointed him assistant secretary of the treasury in the Buchanan administration, where he served from 1857 to 1861. When the Civil War began, he was named assistant secretary of the treasury of the Confederate government under Christopher G. Memminger. His duties were to examine letters, contracts, and warrants and to advise the secretary. He also helped to organize the Treasury Department. Clayton soon dissented from what he believed was the authoritarian nature of the secretary, and he resigned from office in 1863. His resignation illustrates a case of years of previous experience being lost to the Confederacy over the problems of personality. Clayton returned to Georgia and held no further office in the Confederacy. After the war, he became a Republican and served as a teller in a savings bank in Augusta, Georgia. In 1874, President Grant made him consul to Peru.

Philip CLAYTON

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Diplomat lawyer planter Bureaucrat Sub-Cabinet

Background

CLAYTON, Philip was born on March 19, 1815 in Athens, Georgia, United States, United States. Son of Judge Augustus Smith Clayton and his wife Julia (Carnes). His father, a distinguished jurist and statesman, at one time served in the U.S.

Education

Private school, southern university.

Career

House of Representatives as a Democrat. The younger Clayton, also a Democrat, was trained in the law, graduated first in his class of 1833 at Franklin College (later the University of Georgia), and was admitted to the bar in 1836. He had a son by his marriage in 1836 to Leonora Harper.

Clayton ran his father’s plantation in Mississippi before returning to Georgia in 1839, where he edited the Southern Banner at Athens until 1849. From 1849 to 1857, Clayton was second auditor in the U.S. Treasury. Howell Cobb appointed him assistant secretary of the treasury in the Buchanan administration, where he served from 1857 to 1861.

When the Civil War began, he was named assistant secretary of the treasury of the Confederate government under Christopher G. Memminger. His duties were to examine letters, contracts, and warrants and to advise the secretary. He also helped to organize the Treasury Department.

Clayton soon dissented from what he believed was the authoritarian nature of the secretary, and he resigned from office in 1863. His resignation illustrates a case of years of previous experience being lost to the Confederacy over the problems of personality. Clayton returned to Georgia and held no further office in the Confederacy.

After the war, he became a Republican and served as a teller in a savings bank in Augusta, Georgia. In 1874, President Grant made him consul to Peru.

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.

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Philip CLAYTON

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