Powell Clayton

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Powell Foulk Clayton (August 7, 1833 – August 25, 1914) was a Republican governor of Arkansas from 1868 to 1871, and a United States Ambassador to Mexico from 1899 to 1905.

He served in battles in Missouri and Arkansas and was promoted to Brigadier General after being an officer in the Union Army during the United States Civil War.

Clayton retired from Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and promoted the resort town's growth by his involvement in the Eureka Springs Improvement Company and the Eureka Springs Railroad. Powell, brother of US Congressman-elect John Middleton Clayton, President of Pennsylvania's Thirty-Second Judicial District Thomas J. Clayton and US Attorney W.H.H.

Clayton.

Later life and death

Clayton established a home at Eureka Springs, a growing resort town in northwestern Arkansas, in 1882. In what is now the Crescent Cottage Inn, he and his wife lived. Clayton, president of the Euka Springs Improvement Company (ESIC), designed commercial and residential buildings, some of which still exist. ESIC funded the construction of the Eureka Springs Railroad, which was instrumental in the resort's popularity to visitors. The Crescent Hotel was also built in Eureka Springs, and it's now one of the city's most notable landmarks. Clayton is the author of a poem on the fireplace in the Crescent Hotel's lobby. Clayton was president of the Eureka Springs Railway, which provided transportation to the resort area until 1889, when it was merged into the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad. The now defunct railroad line operated from Joplin, Missouri, to Helena in Phillips County, eastern Arkansas.

Clayton remained involved in the Republican Party. He was elected to serve as a member of the Republican National Committee in 1872 and was also consulted to fill federal patronage positions as early as 1912. He was instrumental in delivering the majority of the Arkansas delegation for William McKinley's Republican nomination as president in 1896 and 1897. Clayton is also the head of the Republican speakers' bureau for the East Coast. When President McKinley made him the first ambassador to Mexico, he was sent as the first ambassador to Mexico. He was withheld until 1905. Since resigning as Ambassador of Mexico, he lived in Washington, D.C., but was also able to control several businesses and enterprises in Arkansas. He continued to do this, as well as retaining his position in the Republican Party. On August 25, 1914, he died in Washington, D.C., and was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

Personal life

Clayton married Adaline McGraw of Helena, Arkansas, on December 14, 1865. Their three daughters and two sons were born together, but one of them died in early infancy, so they did not have to worry about it. Powell Clayton, Jr., a major in the 16th United States Cavalry, and he is also buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Two of Clayton's daughters married diplomats from Belgium and England. Clayton lost his left hand while hunting outside Little Rock on September 9, 1868.

W. H. Clayton and John M. Clayton were twin brothers. These three guys met in Arkansas during their time as a professional wrestler. William was elected as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas and served as the Chief prosecutor in the case of "hanging judge" Isaac Parker for 14 years. John was elected as an Arkansas congressman, Arkansas State Senator, and a United States Congressman-elect. In 1889, John was assassinated in Plumerville, Arkansas. He had contested the election results of a Congressional run with Democrat Clifton R. Breckinridge and was fired through the window of the boarding house, where he was staying. Thomas J. Clayton, Clayton's brother, became a well-known Philadelphia lawyer and a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Pennsylvania for Delaware County for 25 years.

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Early life and career

Powell Foulk Clayton was born in Bethel Township, Pennsylvania, to John and Ann (Clarke) Clayton. The Clayton family descended from early Quaker settlers of Pennsylvania. William Clayton, Clayton's ancestor, emigrated from Chichester, England, and was appointed as one of nine justices seated at the Upland Court in 1681.

Clayton attended Forwood School in Wilmington, Delaware, as well as the Pennsylvania Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy in Bristol, Pennsylvania. In Wilmington, he obtained a degree in civil engineering.

He moved to Kansas in 1855 to work as a surveyor. He speculated in Kansas soil. He began running for the office of city engineer in Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1859 or 1860.

Political career

Clayton was instrumental in the establishment of the Arkansas Republican Party in 1867. After several clashes with ex-Rebels on his plantation, he moved to Arkansas to ensure that Unionists had more cover.

Democrats took over the state legislature in 1866 and nominated two U.S. senators. Senators are senators. However, the Republican-controlled Congress has refused to include them in a session. Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts of 1867, declaring the government of Arkansas and nine other Confederate states illegally and requiring those states to adopt new constitutions guaranteeing civil rights to freedmen. During Congressional Reconstruction, military rule was established throughout the South. General Edward Ord was elected military governor of the Fourth Military District, which included Arkansas. The Arkansas legislature was disbanded, and Ord called for a constitutional convention.

Most of the delegates to the 1868 constitutional convention were Republicans because few Democrats could swear that they were not members of Confederacy or gave them assistance or compassion to the enemy. Although Clayton was not a delegate to the constitutional convention, he did participate in the Republican state nominating convention, which was held at the same time.

Clayton was nominated for lieutenant governor by both Republican gubernatorial nominee and James M. Johnson.

The ratification of the 1868 constitution, which guaranteed civil rights and the right to freedmen, sparked a backlash among Democrats who adhered to white supremacist views. The Ku Klux Klan appeared in Arkansas in the spring and was responsible for more than 200 murders in the 1868 race.

The state board of election commissioners confirmed the constitution and Clayton's election as Governor of Arkansas on April 1, 1868. The Arkansas constitution of 1868 was recognized as valid by Congress. Following Lincoln's assassination, Democratic President Andrew Johnson (who had been elected following Lincoln's assassination) vetoed it, but the Republican-dominated Congress overturned his veto. When Clayton was inaugurated as Governor on July 2, 1868, the state was remitted to congress. The new legislature accepted the Fourteenth Amendment unanimously, and Congress declared Arkansas reconstructed.

Clayton, the governor, of Texas, faced strong resistance from the state's conservative political leaders and violence against blacks and Republicans of the Ku Klux Klan. During this time, Arkansas Republican congressman James Hinds was assaulted and killed while attending a political gathering, and Clayton survived an attempt on his life. Clayton retaliated in Arkansas by announcing martial law in fourteen counties for four months in late 1868 and early 1869. Clayton drafted the state militia and named General Daniel Phillips Upham in charge of reducing violence throughout the state.

Clayton and the Republicans in the legislature passed several bills to improve Arkansas during his three-year tenure as governor. State bonds were released to finance the construction of several railroads around the state. During Clayton's governorship, the first free public school system in Arkansas was launched. The Clayton administration also established Arkansas Industrial University, the Arkansas School for the Deaf, and relocated the Arkansas School for the Blind.

The Arkansas Republican party splintered in the face of widespread resistance from conservatives during Clayton's Reconstruction governorship. Clayton and his allies were referred to locally as "Minstrels" in the Republican party and were able to secure recognition from the National Republican party and oversaw the federal patronage in the state. Clayton few people were recruited by the state Republican Party's legislature, and he was repeatedly chastised for his leadership. The Brooks-Baxter War has taken place.

Joseph Brooks, who had been a member of Clayton in the establishment of the Arkansas Republican party, rebelled with Clayton and established the "Brindletails" faction in 1868. Brooks' resistance to Clayton was mainly due to Clayton's growing tolerance for ex-Confederates, as well as Clayton's replacement of Brooks as the Arkansas Republican party leader.

Lieutenant Governor James M. Johnson charged Clayton with misconduct in the issuing of railroad bonds and misusing power in his effort to minimize violence in 1869. Johnson's all white Republican supporters from Northwest Arkansas, who most closely identify as Liberal Republicans. Clayton was impeached in 1871 by the Brindletails; however, the court never heard the allegations against him and dismissed the lawsuit, and the plaintiffs were not aware of it.

Clayton was elected to the United States Senate in January 1871, sparking yet more controversies in Clayton's reign. Clayton did not want to accept the Senate seat and have lieutenant governor James M. Johnson replace him as governor. Clayton, on the contrary, declined the Senate seat and negotiated Johnson's appointment as Secretary of State of Arkansas, replacing Johnson with Ozra Hadley. Clayton was voted back to the Senate from the house of Commons in March 1871, a repeat of 1871.

He served as chairman of Enrolled Bills and on the Committee on Civil Service Retrenchment.

The Senate Joint Select Committee to Investigate the State of the Late Insurrectionary States in January 1872 heard testimony challenging Clayton's conduct and integrity as governor. In April 1871, a United States district attorney testified that Clayton became a U.S. citizen. Senator John Edwards was charged by a grand jury on suspicion of election fraud in the United States House of Representatives.

Clayton argued that two separate polls had been collected in eight precincts. One set of activists was overseen by authorized judges and the other under unlawful jurisdiction of opposing political parties. The Arkansas Supreme Court found that the illegal election was held at the registered polling places and that the other results were fraudulent. Clayton discarded the returns from the fraudulent polling companies and named the candidate who received the highest number of legitimate votes as governor. Thomas Boles, the opposition candidate, contested the nomination and replaced John Edwards in the US House of Representatives in February 1872.

The commission ruled that the subject is beyond its jurisdiction and submitted it to the Senate. The Senate appointed a special three-member committee to look at the allegations at Clayton's behest. In June 1872, after interviewing thirty-eight witnesses and releasing five thousand pages of transcript, the committee released a partial report indicating that the evidence against Clayton did not stand up to the charges. Clayton's vehement political rivals had been charged, according to the committee, and the indictment against Clayton had been dismissed due to a lack of evidence. However, the committee members said that they wanted more time and that a final report would be published in the Senate's new session.

The committee's final report in February 1873 found that the testimony against Clayton did not stand up to the charges against him, but that there was no proof that he had any fraudulent intent in certifying the election of Edwards as directed by the state supreme court. The Senate approved the committee's findings 33 to 6, a landslide. Nine senators, mainly Democrats, were unable to vote on the grounds that they were not allowed enough time to adequately investigate all of the testimony.

Clayton appealed to his brother, William H.H., when he was in the Senate. Judge Isaac Parker will be reassigned from Utah to Fort Smith, Arkansas, a border region with a high rate of violence and crime. Parker, the legendary "Hanging Judge" and US Attorney Clayton are credited with bringing law and order to the area.

Clayton lost his seat in the Senate after the legislature, now dominated by Democrats, who elected one of their own to the Senate in 1877. Clayton returned to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he revived his law practice and boosted economic growth.

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