John M. Clayton
John Middleton Clayton ( born July 24, 1796 in Dagsboro, Delaware, † November 9, 1856 in Dover, Delaware ) was an American politician. He represented the State of Delaware in the U.S. Senate and served under U.S. President Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore as Foreign Secretary of the United States.
Life
Clayton made 1815 his degree in law at Yale University and began in 1819 as an attorney in Dover to practice. For a time he worked as a partner with his cousin Thomas Clayton, who also was a prominent politician and U.S. Senator. As a member of the National Republican Party and later the Whig Party, he became politically active and was in 1824 as a Member of the House of Representatives from Delaware. From December 1826 to October 1828 he was Secretary of State of Delaware. In 1828 he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he remained from March 4, 1829 until his resignation on December 29, 1836. From 1837 to 1839 he was then Chief Justice of Delaware, in March 1845, he returned as a Senator in Congress.
In 1849 he became Foreign Minister in the Cabinet Taylor. Since he always acted in accordance with the Whig Party, he ran through his consistent adherence to the non-intervention policy towards the European mainland to the displeasure of the Democrats, while its inclination to the southern states earned him a falling out with the Whigs of the North. Also by him in 1850 concluded with the English diplomat Henry Bulwer- Lytton Nicaragua agreement (the so-called Bulwervertrag or Clayton - Bulwer Treaty) on the neutrality of the proposed canal to connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean (see Panama Canal ), which the U.S. military occupation and domination banned from this channel, aroused dissatisfaction.
After the death of President Taylor on July 9, 1850 Clayton practiced his office under his successor, Millard Fillmore from only 13 days before he resigned and was replaced by Daniel Webster. In 1852 he was elected for the third time in the Senate, where he served from March 4, 1853 until his death on November 9, 1856. 1934 was devoted to him a statue in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the Capitol of Washington.