Encyclopedia of African American History

Clay, Henry  339

ending the slave trade in Britain, and he became a very pop-

ular fi gure. He joined with another prominent abolition-

ist, Th omas Fowell Buxton, and founded the Society for the

Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery in 1807.

In 1823, Clarkson became the vice president of the

world’s fi rst human rights organization, the British and

Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. Because of his health, he was

not as active in this movement as he had been previously.

However, Clarkson again helped to build public support for

ending slavery, which resulted in Parliament passing the

Slavery Abolition Act in 1833, outlawing slavery.

Clarkson continued to write antislavery pamphlets

and books in the 1830s and 1840s. He wrote two pamphlets

directed at encouraging planters in America to free their

slaves. In 1840, he gave a speech to an international anti-

slavery meeting, which many in attendance considered to

be his most articulate speech ever.

In 1846, Th omas Clarkson died in Suff olk, England.

See also: Abolition, Slave Trade; Equiano, Olaudah; Wilber-

force, William

Gene C. Gerard

Bibliography

Kitson, Peter, et al., eds. Slavery, Abolition, and Emancipation:

Writings in the British Romantic Period. London: Pickering

and Chatto, 1999.

Wilson, Ellen Gibson. Th omas Clarkson: A Biography. York, En-

gland: William Sessions, 1996.

Clay, Henry

Henry Clay (1777–1852) was born on April 12, 1777, in Ha-

nover County, Virginia. He served in both the U.S. House of

Representatives and the Senate for most of his entire adult

life. Over the course of his career, Clay unsuccessfully ran

for president fi ve times. Th e most prominent issues in na-

tional politics in which Clay was directly involved were the

protection of American business and slavery. Early in Clay’s

career, he read and studied law at the law offi ce of George

Wythe in Richmond, Virginia. In 1797, Clay was admitted

to the bar and moved to Lexington, Kentucky, to practice

law. Clay was deeply involved in Kentucky state politics,

and during his early political career, he served in the U.S.

Senate from 1807 to 1808, the Kentucky legislature from

1808 to 1809, and the U.S. Senate from 1810 to 1811. At the

with the intention to become a minister. While completing
a graduate degree at Cambridge, he entered the universi-
ty’s essay-writing contest. Th e contest required students to
answer the question, “Is it lawful to make slaves of others
against their will?” Clarkson had not previously thought
much about slavery. He began to research slavery, which
included interviewing other students who had come into
contact with slaves. His essay won the contest and began
Clarkson on his lifelong quest to end slavery.
In 1786, while traveling to London to fi nd a publisher
to print his essay, Clarkson believed that he received a mes-
sage from God to commit his life to ending slavery. His
essay, titled “An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the
Human Species, Particularly the African,” was published
and received a wide audience, both in England and in
America. In London, Clarkson met several other abolition-
ists, including John Wesley and Granville Sharp. In 1787,
Clarkson helped found the Committee for Abolition of the
African Slave Trade. His responsibility within the commit-
tee was to gather evidence that would compel the British
government to ban the slave trade.
For the next two years, Clarkson traveled Britain, col-
lecting evidence of the brutality of the slave trade. In par-
ticular, he visited the slave ports of Bristol and Liverpool.
He interviewed over 20,000 sailors who worked on slave
ships, and he obtained various equipment used on slave
ships, including handcuff s, leg-shackles, thumb screws,
tools for forcing open slaves’ jaws, and branding irons.
He also made numerous detailed drawings of slave ships.
Clarkson’s evidence was turned over to Parliament, which
began to debate the slave trade. He published several books
on slavery between 1787 and 1794. In 1789, he traveled to
Paris, where he lobbied the French government to abolish
the slave trade. Clarkson returned to Britain in 1790. Public
interest in ending the slave trade was not strong, and the
issue had made little progress in Parliament. As a result, he
campaigned tirelessly against the slave trade for the next
four years. In 1794, Clarkson suff ered health problems be-
cause of his activities, and he was forced to temporarily re-
tire from the abolitionist movement.
In 1803, the Committee for Abolition decided to again
promote ending the slave trade. Th is energized Clarkson,
and he resumed campaigning against the slave trade. Pub-
lic interest grew, which resulted in Parliament passing the
Abolition Bill in 1807, ending the slave trade. In part, this
prompted the U.S. Congress to also ban the importation of
slaves the same year. Clarkson played a signifi cant role in