biography
| name: |
Clayton, John Middleton
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1796–1856)
|
| biography:
| US statesman and senator, born in Dagsboro, Delaware, USA. He studied at Yale (1815) and was admitted to the bar (1819). He served in the US Senate (National Republican, Delaware, 1829–36), then resigned to become chief justice of Delaware. He returned to the US Senate (Whig, Delaware, 1845–9), resigning again to serve as secretary of state under President Zachary Taylor (1849–50). His major achievement was to negotiate the so-called Clayton–Bulwer Treaty with Great Britain, which dispelled the increasing rivalry between the two nations in Central America by agreeing to a neutralized international canal in that region. He resigned as secretary of state when Taylor died, and returned to the US Senate (1852–6). |
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