Clement Claiborne Clay (December 13, 1816 – January 3, 1882), also known as C. C. Clay Jr., was a

United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

(Democrat) from the state of

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

from 1853 to 1861, and a

Confederate States senator The Confederate Senate was the upper house of the Confederate States Congress, Congress of the Confederate States of America. Its members were, like those of the United States Senate, elected for six year terms by the state legislature of each sta ...

from

from 1862 to 1864. His portrait appeared on the Confederate one-dollar note (4th issue and later). He and his father, who was a governor of Alabama and also a U.S. senator, were among the state's most prominent enslavers, according to the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. Together the two men enslaved 87 people on four Alabama plantations as recorded in the 1860 census.

Biography

Early life

Clement Claiborne Clay was born to Clement Comer Clay and Susanna Claiborne Withers, the daughter of well-off planter John Withers, in

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...

.Bleser, Carol K. R
''In Joy and in Sorrow: Women, Family, and Marriage in the Victorian South, 1830–1900''
New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. He had a strong political pedigree as the oldest son of U. S. senator and Alabama governor Clement Comer Clay. He was also a third cousin of

Henry Clay Henry Clay (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seventh Spea ...

, the noted statesman from Kentucky. John Withers Clay, proprietor and editor of the '' Huntsville Weekly Democrat'', and Hugh Lawson Clay, who served in the military, were his brothers. Clay attended the Huntsville Green Academy, then studied at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa in 1833–1834. In August 1834, at the age seventeen, he received an A.B. degree. He served as his father's secretary in 1835–1837 after Clement Clay, Sr. was elected as a governor of Alabama. In 1837, he and his brother John Withers Clay both entered the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

; their brother Hugh Lawson Clay joined them later. In July 1839, Clay obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree after studying with John B. Minor, known for his rigor, and was admitted to the Alabama Bar on October 2, 1839.Nuermberger, Ruth K
''The Clays of Alabama: A Planter-Lawyer-Politician Family.''
Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1958.

Marriage and family

On February 1, 1843, he married Virginia Tunstall, who was then 18 years old. They had one child, who died stillborn. After Clement's death in 1882, his widow remarried to David Clopton, a judge, and was known as Virginia Clay-Clopton. Clay-Clopton wrote ''Belle of the Fifties'', a memoir with New York journalist Ada Sterling, published in 1904 and re-issued in 1905. ''Belle'' was one of three memoirs by southern women particularly recommended by the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, a ...

to its membership for studying.Sarah E. Gardner, ''Blood And Irony: Southern White Women's Narratives of the Civil War, 1861–1937''
University of North Carolina Press, 2006, pp. 128-130. Clay-Clopton's book became part of the discourse about the

Lost Cause The Lost Cause of the Confederacy, known simply as the Lost Cause, is an American pseudohistorical and historical negationist myth that argues the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not cente ...

and the burnished memory of the

antebellum South The ''Antebellum'' South era (from ) was a period in the history of the Southern United States that extended from the conclusion of the War of 1812 to the start of the American Civil War in 1861. This era was marked by the prevalent practic ...

Career

In 1839–1846, Clay practiced law in a family law firm; in 1846–1848 he served as Madison County judge. Clay was a member of the Alabama State House of Representatives in 1842, and in 1844–1845. He ran for the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

in 1850, but did not succeed, losing to incumbent Williamson Robert Winfield Cobb. In 1853, Clay was elected by the Alabama legislature to serve in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

in a term beginning March 4, 1853; and was re-elected in 1857. Due to the legislature's delay in filling the position, he served from November 29, 1853, to January 21, 1861. In the Senate, he defended the state's rights during the political debates of the time, and opposed

. After the

1860 presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 6, 1860. The History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin emerged victoriou ...

seceded from the Union on January 11, 1861, before the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

broke out. On January 21, six men, including Clay, resigned their seats in the United States Senate. Most made brief and temperate speeches. Clay, however, delivered an impassioned justification for secession and a denunciation of the Northern anti-

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

Republican Party. He denounced its resistance to the

Fugitive Slave Act A fugitive or runaway is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...

and the spread of slavery into the territories. "No sentiment is more insulting or more hostile to our domestic tranquility, to our social order, and to our social existence, than is contained in the declaration that our negroes are entitled to liberty and equality with the white man," Clay said. He described the election of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

to the presidency as a hostile act against the Southern people which left them with no recourse other than secession in order to defend their liberty, honor, and safety. Clay was subsequently elected by the Alabama Confederate legislature as senator in the First Confederate Congress. He served there from 1862 until 1864 acting as a supporter of

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

. Along with

Jacob Thompson Jacob Thompson (May 15, 1810 – March 24, 1885) was the United States Secretary of the Interior, who resigned on the outbreak of the American Civil War and became the Inspector General of the Confederate States Army. In 1864, Jefferson Davis ...

, Clay was a part of the Confederate War Department effort to create a network of secret agents to conduct

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

and

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

.Michael B. Chesson
Clay, Clement Claiborne
''American National Biography Online'', February 2000. Retrieved December 13, 2015. In May 1864, president Davis sent Clay to Canada with a secret mission to coordinate activities of the Southern sympathizers in the Great Lakes area, including members of the Order of the Sons of Liberty and the

Knights of the Golden Circle The Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC) was a secret society founded in 1854 by American George W. L. Bickley, the objective of which was to create a new country known as the Golden Circle (), where slavery would be legal. The country would have ...

. Clay took part in a secret meeting with

John Hay John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838July 1, 1905) was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a Secretary to the President of the United States, private secretary for Abraha ...

, President Abraham Lincoln's aide, at Niagara Falls, Canada. It was suspected that Thompson and Clay had employed

John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, assassinated United States president Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the p ...

for some services before he assassinated President

. President

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...

signed an order to arrest Clay. After learning from a newspaper that a reward was issued for his capture, Clay, who initially planned to escape to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, turned himself in to General James H. Wilson in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Situated near the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is southeast of Atlanta and near the ...

, in May 1865. He was arrested and held in

Fort Monroe Fort Monroe is a former military installation in Hampton, Virginia, at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula, United States. It is currently managed by partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority for the Commonwealth o ...

in Hampton, Virginia, until April 1866. Former Confederate president

was also held in

, but was never tried; he was released in 1867.

Postwar years

Clay was imprisoned by the United States government under impression that he was involved in the plot to assassinate President

. Virginia Clay played some role in her husband's release as she went to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and personally pleaded with President Johnson. A viewpoint that Johnson's role in Clay's release was an act worthy of being among the charges for impeaching Johnson was voiced in the December 1867 Thomas Williams-authored majority report of

House Committee on the Judiciary The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, f ...

published at the conclusion of first impeachment inquiry against Andrew Johnson. The Clays returned to Alabama and struggled to rebuild their lives living on a farm. Clay tried to practice as an attorney and entered insurance business in Huntsville, however without much success due to poor health, ultimately returning to his farm in January 1882. He died later that year in Madison County, besieged by debts and health problems, and is interred at Maple Hill Cemetery.

Works

* Clay, C.C., and William M. K. Gwin. ''Invasion of Harper's Ferry: Dangers and Duties of the South.'' Washington: Printed at the Congressional Globe Office, 1859. * Speech of the Hon. C.C. Clay Jr. of Alabama, on the Contest in Kansas, and the Plans and Purposes of Black Republicanism: Delivered in the United States Senate, April 21, 1856. * Speech of C. Clay Jr. of Alabama, on the Bill to Admit Kansas: Southern Rights, How Menaced by Northern Republicanism, Delivered in United States Senate, March 19, 1858.
Speech of Hon. C. C. Clay Jr. on slavery issues. Delivered at Huntsville, Alabama, September 5th, 1859.

References

Bibliography

External links

*

Civil War Women

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Clay, Clement Claiborne Jr. 1816 births 1882 deaths Politicians from Huntsville, Alabama Lawyers from Huntsville, Alabama Clay family Democratic Party United States senators from Alabama Confederate States of America senators Democratic Party members of the Alabama House of Representatives Alabama state court judges People of Alabama in the American Civil War University of Alabama alumni 19th-century Alabama state court judges 19th-century American lawyers United States senators who owned slaves Prisoners and detainees of the United States military 19th-century United States senators