Clay, Cassius Marcellus (1810-1903), was an American politician and abolitionist. He was the son of a slaveholder, but he learned to despise slavery and preached against it. In 1845, he founded an antislavery newspaper, True American, in Lexington, Kentucky. After moving to Louisville, he called it the Examiner. His views on slavery and his fiery nature earned him a reputation as a rebel and a fighter. He carried two pistols and a knife because of threats on his life, and he guarded his office and his home with a cannon.
Clay was born in Madison County, Kentucky, on Oct. 19, 1810. He studied at Yale. He served in the Kentucky legislature in 1835, 1837, and 1840. He worked for Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860. He served as U.S. minister to Russia in 1861 and 1862 and from 1863 to 1869. Clay died on July 22, 1903.
