Clement Claiborne Clay

Clement Claiborne Clay ( born December 13, 1816 in Huntsville, Alabama; † January 3, 1882 in Gurley, Alabama ) was an American politician (Democratic Party). He represented the state of Alabama in the U.S. Senate and in Konföderiertenkongress.

Clay comes from a family which produced several well-known politicians. He was the eldest son of Clement Comer Clay, who served as a senator and governor of Alabama; his cousin Henry Clay was the head of the Whig party.

He attended the University of Alabama and graduated in 1834. 1839 he earned a law degree from the University of Virginia, after which he was admitted in the following year in the Bar Association of Alabama.

Politically, he worked first in the House of Representatives from Alabama, where he in 1842, 1844 and 1845 belonged. Then Clay was from 1848 to 1850 Judge at the District Court of Madison County. In 1850, he competed unsuccessfully for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives; for which he was elected in 1853 in the Senate in Washington. Originally the term had already begun there on March 4, 1853; since the attempt by the state Legislature Alabama to elect a Senator, but was initially failed, Clay took his mandate only true from the 29th November of the same year.

After Alabama had completed its withdrawal from the Union and the Confederate States was a party, Clay resigned his seat in the Senate down on 21 January 1861. Instead, he was elected to the Konföderiertensenat, where he served as the representative of Alabama from 1862 to 1864. He was one of the most prominent politicians of the short-lived state, which is why his portrait was also seen on the CSA one-dollar note.

After the war, Clay was suspected to have been involved in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Then he and his wife were held captive for a year at Fort Monroe.