According to the terms of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the top three electoral vote-getters advanced to the runoff in the House of Representatives. With Tubman, whom he called General Tubman, Brown began planning an attack on slaveholders, as well as a United States military armory, at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), using armed freed enslaved people. When he founded it, Clay reportedly said he was the first to "beard the monster in his den.". Dubbed the Teflon Don read more. p.470. Among the witnesses to his execution were Lee and the actor and pro-slavery activist John Wilkes Booth. Clay returned to Ashland with Aaron, Charles and Mary Ann Dupuy. Hampered by a crippled hand, Wythe chose Clay as his secretary. Louis Weeks, "John P. Parker: Black Abolitionist Entrepreneur, 1827-1900", Freedom River, Doreen Rappaport, NY: Hyperion Books for Children, 2000, This page was last edited on 14 January 2023, at 09:45. Brown recruited 22 men in all, including his sons Owen and Watson, and several freed enslaved people. He served three different terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives and was also Secretary of State from 1825 to 1829. Browns men were able to capture several local slaveowners but, by the end of the day on October 16, local townspeople began to fight back. Henry Watkins, who was an affectionate stepfather. Tarleton visited and checked the grave for buried valuables shortly after John Clay's death. Brown was forced to move his remaining men and their captives to the armorys engine house, a smaller building that later became known as John Browns Fort. Seven of Clay's children died before him. In the ensuing fight, Clay fought off all six and, Once the Union troops arrived, Clay and his family headed for Russia. 1. wanted to establish an abolitionist republic John Brown 2. sued for his freedom Harriet Tubman 3. The crisis worsened until 1833. The younger Clay attended Transylvania University and then graduated from Yale College in 1832. In 1878 he divorced his wife of 45 years, claiming abandonment, this was after she would no longer tolerate his infidelities. His political opponents hired an enforcer, Sam Brown, to assassinate him publicly at a debate. Even though the 1852 pro-slavery[43] novel Life at the South; or, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" As It Is, by W.L.G. In the ensuing fight, Clay fought off all six and, using his Bowie knife, killed Cyrus Turner.[9]. The main issue was the policy of continuing the Second Bank of the United States. [38] The resolutions included: Admission of California as a free state, ending the balance of free and slave states in the senate. Henry Clay helped establish and became president in 1816 of the American Colonization Society, a group that wanted to establish a colony for free American blacks in Africa; it founded Monrovia, in what became Liberia, for that purpose. Half brother of Edwin M. Clay; Jeremiah Clay and Frances Wooldridge, Rev John Clay BIRTH 1741 Henrico County, Virginia, USA DEATH 31 May 1781 Hanover County, Virginia, USA BURIAL Non-Cemetery Burial, Specifically: Rev. [1], Parker was born in Norfolk, Virginia 1827. He had invented the pulverizer while still a young man in Mobile in the 1840s. Brother of Edward C. Clay Clayfeatured on the National Constitution Centers American National Tree, part of its main exhibit was born in Kentucky and resided there for most of his life. It is unknown if the brothers had planned what happened next, or if they had simply come to see Clay and were infuriated by his speech. Enraged, Clay pulled out his Bowie knife and fought through Brown's allies. Spare the men; they are innocent. Regardless, theywent after Clay, with a clear intent to end him once and for all. A group of men, led by Owen Brown, was able to kidnap Washington, while the rest of the men, with John Brown at the lead, began a raid on Harpers Ferry to seize both weapons and pro-slavery leaders in the town. Clay's estate, Ashland, in Lexington, Kentucky Clay continued to serve both the Union he loved and his home state of Kentucky. When Clay was appointed Secretary of State, his maneuver was called a "corrupt bargain" by many of Jackson's supporters and tarnished Clay's reputation. [6] The father left Henry and his brothers two slaves each, and his wife 18 slaves and 464 acres (188 ha) of land. [37] A more stringent Fugitive Slave Act. He installed a cannon to protect his home and office. [3] In 1815, while still in Europe, he helped negotiate a commerce treaty with Great Britain. Henry Watkins moved the family to Richmond, Virginia. WebClay encouraged abolitionist John G. Fee to move to Berea, Kentucky and donated to Fee money and a ten-acre tract in Madison County for the beginnings of a school that would become Berea College, the first interracial college in the South. Clay was born on October 19th, 1810 in Madison County, Kentucky. In the meantime, Kansas held elections and voted to be a free state in 1858. It didnt help that he lost his wife and two of his children to illness at the time. In October 1859, the U.S. military arsenal at Harpers Ferry was the target of an assault by an armed band of abolitionists led by John Brown (1800-59). An entrepreneur who ran tannery and cattle trading businesses prior to the economic crisis of 1839, Brown became involved in the abolitionist movement following the brutal murder of Presbyterian minister and anti-slavery activist Elijah P. Lovejoy in 1837. Declarey left for the evening, and Clay awaited his challenge. Clay, seeing that there were no troops in Washington, D.C. at the start of the war, organized 300 volunteers to guard the White House and U.S. Counsellor of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, 1859-1960. While this is, of course, impossible to verify, the mere existence of the rumor speaks to both the sheer number of his duels and his skill at surviving them. Senators, Armistead Thomson Mason (aged 28 in 1816), and John Eaton (aged 28 in 1818). I alone am responsible." Mary Ann Dupuy was sent to join her mother, and they worked as domestic slaves for the Duraldes for another decade. Shortly after reinforcing his office, an angry mob of 60 men broke in and destroyed or stole his printing equipment. [5]Childhood[edit] Henry Clay was born on April 12, 1777, at the Clay homestead in Hanover County, Virginia, in a story-and-a-half frame house. Clay'sactions wereso brutal that he wasn't even charged with assault; he was charged with mayhem. In 1861, Clay was appointed by President Lincoln to be the Minister to Russia. This seemingly kicked off Clay's passionate anti-slavery stance. John Clay was buried near his home in Hanover County, Virgina in an unmarked grave. In 1843, Clay was at a political debate and he was struck by an assassins bullet. Despite having been shot in the chest, Clay tackled Brown, and with his Bowie knife removed Brown's nose and one eye and possibly an ear before he threw Brown over an embankment. Underground Railroad Fort Sumter 4. What will be its effect on France, and French policy, we shall learn in due time. There were casualties on both sides, with four Harpers Ferry citizens killed, including the towns mayor. What's The Most Underrated State To Vacation In? He would have been accustomed to seeing all manner of slave owners, and all different ways of treating slaves. Tarleton In June of 1845, the True American abolitionist newspaper was founded. There in 1848 he married Miranda Boulden, free born in the city. Two members voted against the measure. Clay granted Charles Dupuy his freedom in 1844. (1911). She was a sister to Captain Nathaniel G. S. Hart, who died in the Massacre of the River Raisin in the War of 1812.[12]. They targeted a group of pro-slavery settlers called the Pottawatomie Rifles. Afterward, Clay promptly passed out before he was rescued andtreated. Skip to main The Glory and Downfall of Ulysses S. Grant, The Confederacy's Response to Lincoln's End, Duel-Happy Abolitionist Cassius Clay Was The Most Metal Politician In American History. His older brother Brutus J. Clay became a politician at the state and federal levels. Fee founded Berea College, which opened in 1855 as a one-room district school. Influenced by abolitionist poet John Greenleaf Whittier and abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison, he became active in the New England Anti-Slavery Society. Late in the afternoon of October 17, 1859, President James Buchanan ordered a company of Marines under the command of Brevet Colonel (and future Confederate General) Robert E. Lee to march into Harpers Ferry. As a leading war hawk in 1812, he favored war with Britain and played a significant role in leading the nation to war in the War of 1812. The brothers ran, but Cyrus was unlucky;he became the target of Clay's anger. Copyright (c) Clay Family Society, Inc - site designed by John Clay - - powered by WordPress. Presumably, this brazen public onslaught was meant to send a message to other abolitionists that they should fear for their lives. Born into slavery under the principle of partus sequitur ventrem, at the age of eight John was forced to walk to Richmond, where he was sold at the slave market to a physician from Mobile, Alabama. [17] As a legislator, Clay advocated a liberal interpretation of the state's constitution and initially the gradual emancipation of slavery in Kentucky, although the political realities of the time forced him to abandon that position. Early the next morning, they raised a local militia, which captured a bridge crossing the Potomac River, effectively cutting off an important escape route for Brown and his compatriots. Parker, who was African American, helped hundreds of slaves WebAbolitionists, 1780-1865 Lauren Anderson, Harvard College Class of 2021, Social Studies On March 16, 1827, the Black abolitionists Reverend Samuel E. Cornish and John Brown Russwurm set out on a task: to plead our own cause. This phrase became the opening statement of Freedoms Journal, an abolitionist newspaper owned by the two publishers. When Federal troops arrived, Clay and his family embarked for Russia. He would issue challenges over just about any subject under the sun, from political matters to personal insults to an argument overKentucky bluegrass. At this time, he also met Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, activists and abolitionists both, and they became important people in Browns life, reinforcing much of his ideology. Wczeniej mona je byo zaobserwowa szukajc recenzji lub osb, a Kurs Pozycjonowania 2023. [12] Clay's most notable client was Aaron Burr in 1806, after the US District Attorney Joseph Hamilton Daveiss indicted him for planning an expedition into Spanish Territory west of the Mississippi River. Before he and his family could depart, the American Civil War started. They took his Bowie knife and stabbed him with it several times, no doubt thinking that was enough to do the job. Clay was physically exhausted; the tuberculosis that would eventually kill him began to take its toll. The John P. Parker Historical Society was formed in 1996 to preserve and interpret knowledge of John Parker and his family; it has worked to restore the house and operate it as a museum with exhibits and educational programs. Clay was the foremost proponent of the American System, fighting for an increase in tariffs to foster industry in the United States, the use of federal funding to build and maintain infrastructure, and a strong national bank. Not only that, he was an open and vocal advocate for the abolition of slavery in the 1840s, in Kentucky of all places. He also married and started a family during that time. He immediately appointed members of the War Hawk faction (of which he was the "guiding spirit")[1] to all the important committees, effectively giving him control of the House. John Brown was a leading figure in the abolitionist movement in the pre-Civil War United States. "[33] Clay presided at the founding meeting of the ACS on December 21, 1816, at the Davis Hotel in Washington, D.C. Attendees included Robert Finley, James Monroe, Bushrod Washington, Andrew Jackson, Francis Scott Key, and Daniel Webster. By then, two of his sons had started families of their own, in the western territory that eventually became the state of Kansas. This measure helped to preserve the supremacy of the Federal government over the states, but the crisis was indicative of the developing conflict between the northern and southern United States over economics and slavery. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Senator again, having been re-elected by Kentucky in 1831. Clay also opposed the Mexican-American War and the "Manifest Destiny" policy of Democrats, which cost him votes in the close 1844 election. As he was preparing to return to Lexington in 1829, his slave Charlotte Dupuy sued Clay for her freedom and that of her two children, based on a promise by an earlier owner. [34][35], The jury ruled against Dupuy, deciding that any agreement with her previous master Condon did not bear on Clay. [16], State legislator[edit] In 1803, although not old enough to be elected, Clay was appointed a representative of Fayette County in the Kentucky General Assembly. He further asserted in his autobiography that while Clay may have gotten rid of his slaves, he "held on to white supremacy." Born in Kentucky to a wealthy planter family, Clay entered politics during the 1830's and grew to support the abolitionist cause in the U.S., drawing ire from fellow Southerners. Its editor, Cassius Marcellus Clay, was an In 1855 Fee founded Berea College, open to all races. [8][9], In 1845, Clay began publishing an anti-slavery newspaper, True American, in Lexington, Kentucky. [17][pageneeded] He also disapproved of the Republican Radicals' reconstruction policy after Lincoln's assassination. "Clay, Cassius Marcellus". Clay rejoined the Republican Part in 1884. The ringleader was named Cyrus Turner. He is buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Ripley, Ohio. Ordering the Marines under his command to attack, the military men stormed John Brown's Fort, taking all of the abolitionist fighters and their captives alive. David Wilmot, a Northern congressman, had proposed preventing the extension of slavery into any of the new territory in a proposal referred to as the "Wilmot Proviso".[37]. [15], Clay resigned his commission in March 1863 and returned to Russia, where he served until 1869. Clay had just finished an anti-slavery speech when he was approached by several brothers, the sons of a local pro-slavery politician. Once in Russia, Clay had influence on the War back in the United States. He cut off Brown's ear. The lacerations weren't even Clay's closest brush with mortality that night. These internal improvements would be financed by the tariff and by sale of the public lands, prices for which would be kept high to generate revenue. WebJohn P. Parker (1827 January 30, 1900) was an American abolitionist, inventor, iron moulder and industrialist.Parker, who was African American, helped hundreds of slaves to freedom in the Underground Railroad resistance movement based in Ripley, Ohio.He saved and rescued fugitive slaves for nearly fifteen years. A few months later, Clay resigned his commission and returned to his post in Russia. Vol. Senator Henry S. Foote of Mississippi, who had suggested the creation of the Committee of Thirteen, later said, "Had there been one such man in the Congress of the United States as Henry Clay in 1860'61 there would, I feel sure, have been no civil war."[41]. His family home, White Hall, is maintained by the Commonwealth of Kentucky as White Hall State Historic Shrine. John Brown was a militant abolitionist whose violent raid on the U.S. military armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, was a flashpoint in the pre-Civil War era. [2] He earned the money through his work in two of Mobile's iron foundries and occasional odd jobs. [13] When the Russian Atlantic fleet entered New York harbor, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles wrote in his diary: In sending these ships to this country, there is something significant. Henry Clay, Jr. enslaved a man named John Henry Clay, whose descendants gained notice in the 20th century. Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr., grandson of John Henry Clay, named for the abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay. Finally, a national bank would stabilize the currency and serve as the nexus of a truly national financial system. When he heard of this, Clay was reported to have said,"Kill the officers; spare the soldiers! Lee and his men arrested Brown and transported him to the courthouse in nearby Charles Town, where he was imprisoned until he could be tried. However, the younger Brown was shot by the militia and mortally wounded. [20], When elected by the legislature, Clay was below the constitutionally required age of thirty. President Lincoln gave Clay a presentation Colt revolver in recognition. Encyclopdia Britannica. Clay worked toward emancipation, both as a Kentucky state representative and as an early member of the Republican Party. The Compromise of 1850[edit] Main article: Compromise of 1850 After losing the Whig Party nomination to Zachary Taylor in 1848, Clay decided to retire to his Ashland estate in Kentucky. Following Clay's return to Washington, DC, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in late 1862, to take effect in January 1863. Within a month he was receiving death threats and had turned the papers offices into a fortress, including two four-pounder cannons. It was at Yale that Clay heard abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison speak. He had resigned when appointed as US Attorney General. By way of satisfaction, Declarey challenged Clay to a duel, likely thinking nothing would come of it. He was one of the few black people to When he founded it, Clay reportedly said he was the first to "beard the monster in his den." Parker managed the company, which manufactured engines, Dorsey's patent reaper and mower, and sugar mill. (2009). The disturbing but consequential nature of that abolitionism, John Brown. PBS.org. A colleague of Clayonce said of him,"He would fight the wind did it blow from the South side when he wanted it to blow from the North.". In 1833, Clay married Mary Jane Warfield, daughter of Mary Barr and Dr. Elisha Warfield of Lexington, Kentucky. John Brown declared bankruptcy at age 42 and had more than 20 lawsuits filed against him. WebAn icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon. It was not. He came from a large political family which included his father and his brother, Brutus, entering politics. After serving time for hijacking trucks and a revenge slaying, Gotti wrested control of the Gambino crime family in 1985. Clay left the Republican Party in 1869. Owen, John Brown's father, moved the family to Ohio and helped shelter escaped enslaved people in the Underground Railroad. John Browns Harpers Ferry Raid. Battlefields.org. Clay made the position one of political power second only to the President of the United States. He was buried in Lexington Cemetery, and Theodore Frelinghuysen, Clay's vice-presidential candidate in the election of 1844, gave the eulogy. He sought to maneuver the Republican presidential nomination for himself in 1860 and later a Cabinet post for himself in 1861. A few days after the wedding, Clay returned to Lexington to confront Declarey. John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States, was a staunch opponent of slavery. Before Clay's election as Speaker of the House, the position had been that of a rule enforcer and mediator. Similar to the Grimke sisters and John Laurens, Cassius M. Clay was a man born into a slave holding family who believed that slavery was wrong and should be Clay went to the man's hotel and Declarey challenged him to a duel. Alis grandfather, named his son after Clay and Alis father carried the name on. He was a founder of the Republican Party in Kentucky and became a friend of Abraham Lincoln, whom he supported for the presidency in 1860. Dupuy's attorney gained an order from the court for her to remain in DC until the case was settled, and she worked for wages for 18 months for Martin Van Buren, the successor to Secretary of State and the Decatur House. There is no gravestone and there never was. Clay was elected to three terms in the Kentucky House of Representatives, but he lost support among Kentuckian voters as he promoted abolition. His anti-slavery activism earned him violent enemies. During a political debate in 1843, he survived an assassination attempt by Sam Brown, a hired gun. [2], In Ripley, Parker joined the resistance movement, known as the Underground Railroad, whose members aided slaves escaping across the river from Kentucky to get further North to freedom; some chose to go to Canada. Clay and his wife had eleven children (six daughters and five sons): Henrietta (18001801), Theodore (18021870), Thomas (18031871), Susan (18051825), Anne (18071835), Lucretia (18091823), Henry, Jr. (18111847), Eliza (18131825), Laura (18151817), James Brown Clay (18171864), and John Morrison Clay (18211887). President Lincoln appointed Clay to the post of Minister to the Russian court at St. Petersburg on March 28, 1861. Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859, at the age of 59. Four major candidates, including Clay, sought the office of president. While at Yale, he heard abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison speak, and his lecture inspired Clay to join the anti-slavery movement. After taking title to him, she allowed him to hire out to earn money, and he purchased his freedom from her for $1,800 in 1845. During the Civil War, Russia came to the aid of the Union, threatening war against Britain and France if they officially recognized the Confederacy. On May 8, as chair of the committee, Clay presented an omnibus bill linking all of the resolutions. Did you know? Having finished fourth, Clay was eliminated from contention; the top three were Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams and William H. Crawford. He had opposed the annexation of Texas and the expansion of slavery into the Southwest, but had volunteered because of Mexicos attempt to seize the state, which it still claimed. By 1819, though, he had returned to Hudson and opened a tannery of his own, on the opposite side of town from his father. To protect his venture, Clay set up a publication center in Cincinnati, Ohio, a center of abolitionists in the free state but continued to reside in Kentucky. The anti-abolitionist movement had been sending Clay death threats for years, and attempts had been made on his life in the past, but in 1843, his abolitionist crusading became too much for them. Clay helped settle this dispute by gaining Congressional approval for a plan called the "Missouri Compromise". [30] Like other Southern Congressmen, Clay took slaves to Washington, DC to work in his household. He asked one of the doctor's patients, a widow, to purchase him. It had the opposite effect. [31], Decatur House in Washington, DC, a National Historic Landmark and museum on Lafayette Square near the White House, has exhibits on urban slavery and Charlotte Dupuy's freedom suit against Henry Clay.[34]. In 1878 after 45 years of marriage, Clay divorced his wife, Mary Jane (Warfield) Clay, claiming abandonment after she no longer would tolerate his marital infidelities. What became known as the Pottawatomie Massacre occurred on May 25, 1856, and resulted in the deaths of five pro-slavery settlers. Cassius Clay was a member of the planter class who later became a prominent anti-slavery crusader. https://www.history.com/topics/slavery/john-brown. Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. [14] Some of his clients paid him with horses and others with land. The Brown familys new home of Hudson, Ohio, happened to be a key stop on the Underground Railroad, and Owen Brown became active in the effort to bring former enslaved people to freedom. Clay was born to a slave-owning family and grew up on the family plantation at White Hall. He was viewed as the primary representative of Western interests in this group, and was given the names "Henry of the West" and "The Western Star. WebJohn P. Parker (1827 January 30, 1900) was an American abolitionist, inventor, iron moulder and industrialist. --Wikipedia. He must have assumed he had slain Clay, but he couldn't have been more wrong. She was imprisoned in Alexandria, Virginia, before Clay arranged for her transport to New Orleans, where he placed her with his daughter and son-in-law Martin Duralde. In November, a jury found Brown guilty of treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia. They advocated a declaration of war against the British. WebWhile making a speech for abolition in 1849, Clay was attacked by the six Turner brothers, who beat, stabbed, and tried to shoot him. The committee was formed on April 17. Portrait of Henry Clay By 1824, the unparalleled success of the Democratic-Republican Party had driven all other parties from the field. [3], Clay was elected to three terms in the Kentucky House of Representatives,[7] but he lost support among Kentuckian voters as he promoted abolition. It was during the efforts to stop the train that the first casualty of the raid on Harpers Ferry occurred. Later, as one of the peace commissioners, Clay helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent and signed it on December 24, 1814. The younger Brown left his family at 16 for Massachusetts and then Connecticut, where he attended school and was ordained a Congregational minister. Cassius Clay, as minister to Russia during that time, was instrumental in securing Russia's aid. He claims to have had his life saved by Pocahontas, a Native read more, Despite his success as an actor on the national stage, John Wilkes Booth will forever be known as the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. Clay declared he would only accept if Lincoln would emancipate slaves under Confederate control. 22 in Lexington, Kentucky. Herman Heaton Clay, a descendant of African-American slaves, named his son Cassius Marcellus Clay, who was born nine years after the death of the emancipationist, in tribute to him. Over the next several years, Browns efforts in Kansas continued, and two of his sons were captured and a third was killed by pro-slavery settlers. 18111847 Henry Clay, Jr., Lt. Col. in the Second Kentucky Regiment, killed in the Web18101903 Cassius Marcellus Clay, abolitionist, publisher, U.S. general, U.S. minister to Russia. Pedigree Rsurrection & Big DNA Discoveries. Wszelkie prawa zastrzeone, Jak podnie atrakcyjno witryny handlowej, Statusy z blipa w real-time search Prima Aprillis, Godzina dziennie z SEO. During the Civil War, he recruited a few hundred slaves for the Union Army. He also spoke in favor of nationalizing the railroads and later against the power being accrued by industrialists. The victim was a free Black manone of the very people the abolitionist movement sought to help. Senate career[edit] The Nullification Crisis[edit] Main article: Nullification Crisis After the passage of the Tariff of 1828, dubbed the "tariff of abominations" which raised tariffs considerably in an attempt to protect fledgling factories built under previous tariff legislation, South Carolina declared its right to nullify federal tariff legislation and stopped assessing the tariff on imports. Instead, Clay cut off Brown's nose. Clay was the first person to lie in state in the United States Capitol. Two generations from slavery, all six went to college and entered the middle class. Clay read law by working and studying with Wythe, Chancellor of the Commonwealth of Virginia (also a mentor to Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall, among others), and Brooke. Brown was born on May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut, the son of Owen and Ruth Mills Brown. John Brown, (born May 9, 1800, Torrington, Connecticut, U.S.died December 2, 1859, Charles Town, Virginia [now in West Virginia]), militant American abolitionist By 1850, he had relocated his family again, this time to the Timbuctoo farming community in the Adirondack region of New York State. His supporters included the National Republicans, who were beginning to identify as "Whigs" in honor of ancestors during the Revolutionary War. 6 (11thed.). Send us any questions of comments in a new Tab then close it. It was the bloodiest conflict in U.S. history. [18] At the 1890 Kentucky Constitutional Convention, Clay was elected by the members as the Convention's President. He won duel after duel, and his physical exploits are legendary. [3], In 1872, Clay was one of the organizers of the Liberal Republican revolt. Additionally, he purchased enslaved persons, some of whom he later freed. Rich snippets to dosownie bogate opisy, czyli rozszerzone informacje o stronie. Clay got his hands on the letter, then almost immediately found the man and beat him within an inch of his life with a hickory stick. The journal details the financial arrangement concerning the operation of Clay's Ferry on the Kentucky River as well as the acquisition of Weddle's Mill. While in Russia, Clay was influential in the purchase of Alaska from Russia. He was chosen Speaker of the House on the first day of his first session, something never done before or since (except for the first ever session of congress back in 1789). Garrison's arguments were to him "as water is to a thirsty wayfarer. [2] They moved to Ripley, a growing center of abolitionist activity, and had seven children together:[2], The parents ensured that all their children were educated. Shortly afterward, a mob of about 60 men broke into his office and seized his printing equipment. Taft. Marshall hit Clay once in the thigh.[25]. In the political campaigns of 1876 and 1880, Clay supported the Democratic Party candidates. During a political debate in 1843, he survived an assassination attempt by Sam Brown, a hired gun.