Clement Comer Clay

Clement Comer Clay
8th Governor of Alabama
In office 1835–1837
Lieutenant	None
Preceded by	John Gayle
Succeeded by	Hugh McVay
Personal details
Born	December 17, 1789(1789-12-17) Halifax County, Virginia
Died	September 7, 1866(1866-09-07) (aged 76) Huntsville, Alabama
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Susanna Claiborne Withers (1798–1866) (her death)
Alma mater	East Tennessee University
Profession	Politician,Governor of Alabama
Religion	Southern Baptist

Clement Comer Clay (December 17, 1789 – September 7, 1866) was the eighth Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama from 1835 to 1837.

Clay was born in Halifax County, Virginia. His father, William Clay, was an officer in the American Revolutionary War, who moved to Grainger County, Tennessee, after the war. Clay attended public schools and graduated from East Tennessee College in 1807. He was admitted to the bar in 1809 and moved to Huntsville, Alabama, where he began a law practice in 1811. Clay served in the Alabama Territorial Legislature 1817-1818. He was a state court judge and served in the Alabama House of Representatives.

Prior to being governor of Alabama he had served in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1829 until March 3, 1835. Clay's term as governor ended early when he was appointed to the United States Senate, where he served from June 19, 1837 until his resignation on November 15, 1841.

In 1836, Governor Clay signed a legislative act which chartered the third oldest Jesuit college in the United States, Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, and gave it "full power to grant or confer such degree or degrees in the arts and sciences, or in any art or science as are usually granted or conferred by other seminaries of learning in the United States."

Clay married Susannah Claiborne Withers on 4 April 1815. They had three sons - Clement Claiborne Clay, John Withers Clay and Hugh Lawson Clay. Clement died of natural causes in September 1866, aged 76. Susanna had died earlier the same year.

References

• Clement Comer Clay at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• "Clement Comer Clay". Alabama Governors On-Line. Alabama Department of Archives & History. http://www.archives.state.al.us/govs_list/g_claycc.html. Retrieved 2008-01-11. 
• "Clement Comer Clay". Famous Alabamians. Alabama Department of Archives & History. http://www.archives.state.al.us/famous/c_clay.html. Retrieved 2008-01-11. 
• "Alabama Governor Clement Comer Clay". Governor's Information. National Governors Association. http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=b3fa224971c81010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD. Retrieved 2008-01-11. 

External links

• The Political Graveyard
• Clement Comer Clay at Find a Grave

Legal offices
New title	Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama 1820–1823	Succeeded by Abner Smith Lipscomb
Political offices
Preceded by John Gayle	Governor of Alabama 1835–1837	Succeeded by Hugh McVay
United States Senate
Preceded by John McKinley	United States Senator from Alabama (Class 3) 1837–1841 with William R. King (1837–1841)	Succeeded by Arthur P. Bagby