biography
| name: |
Clay, Cassius Marcellus
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1810–1903)
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| biography:
| Abolitionist, born in Madison Co, Kentucky, USA, the cousin of Henry Clay. He was the son of a wealthy slaveholding planter but, while at Yale, heard William Lloyd Garrison speak, and was converted to abolitionism. Returning to Kentucky, he studied law, then served in the state legislature. He freed his own slaves in 1844 and, in the next year, founded a newspaper, The True American (later the Examiner), to combat slavery. He was appointed ambassador to Russia in 1861, but delayed his departure to help strengthen the defences of Washington, DC. He returned in 1862 when named a major-general in the Union army, then went back to take up his diplomatic post in Russia (1863–9) and participated in the purchase of Alaska. On his return he was active in Republican politics, but he became increasingly reclusive, and was judged insane in his final months. |
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