John M. Clayton (Arkansas)
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John Middleton Clayton (October 13, 1840 – January 29, 1889) was an American politician who served as a Republican member of the
Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House is composed of 100 members elected from an equal amount of constituencies across the ...
for Jefferson County from 1871 to 1873 and the Arkansas State Senate for Jefferson County. In 1888, he ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives but lost to
Clifton R. Breckinridge Clifton Rodes Breckinridge (November 22, 1846 – December 3, 1932) was a Democratic alderman, congressman, diplomat, businessman and veteran of the Confederate Army and Navy. He was a member of the prominent Breckinridge family, the son o ...
. Clayton challenged the results and was assassinated in 1889 during the challenge to the election. He was declared the winner of the election posthumously. The identity of his assassin remains unknown. He was the brother of Arkansas Governor and U.S. Senator Powell Clayton, President Judge of the Thirty-Second Judicial District of Pennsylvania
Thomas J. Clayton Thomas Jefferson Clayton (July 20, 1826 – January 30, 1900) was an American lawyer from Pennsylvania who served as the first elected President Judge of the Thirty-Second Judicial District of Pennsylvania from 1874 to 1900. Clayton was an autho ...
and twin-brother to U.S. Attorney
W.H.H. Clayton William Henry Harrison Clayton (October 13, 1840 – December 14, 1920), was an American lawyer and judge in post-Civil War Arkansas and Indian Territory Oklahoma. He served as the United States Attorney for the United States District Court for ...
.


Early life

Clayton was born on a farm in Bethel Township, Pennsylvania to John and Ann Glover Clayton. The Clayton family was descended from early
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
settlers of Pennsylvania. Clayton's ancestor William Clayton emigrated from
Chichester, England Chichester () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publi ...
, was a personal friend of William Penn, one of nine justices who sat at the
Upland Court Upland Court was the governing body of the New Sweden colony following Dutch West India Company annexation from Swedish colonial rule. In 1655, Peter Stuyvesant, governor of the Dutch colony, allowed the colonists to remain an independent Swedish ...
in 1681, and a member of Penn's Council. At birth, Clayton was named John Tyler Clayton by his father who was a strong Whig party supporter. However, after the death of President William Henry Harrison and what he described as " John Tyler's treacherous abandonment of the party", Clayton's father renamed him John Middleton Clayton. During the Civil War, he served as a Colonel in the Army of the Potomac where he engaged in several
campaigns Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme *Bl ...
in the east. In 1867, he and his family moved to Arkansas where he managed a plantation owned by older brother, Powell Clayton, who would become the
Governor of Arkansas A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...
the next year.


Career

In 1871, Clayton was elected to the
Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House is composed of 100 members elected from an equal amount of constituencies across the ...
representing Jefferson County. In 1873, he served in the Arkansas Senate representing Jefferson, Bradley, Grant and Lincoln Counties, also serving as Speaker of the Senate ''pro tempore'' for part of his term. He served on the first board of trustees of Arkansas Industrial University, today the University of Arkansas, when it was chartered in 1871. Two years later, Clayton helped Pine Bluff, Arkansas secure the Branch Normal College, today the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Clayton became involved in the Brooks-Baxter War of 1874 which was fought over the disputed election for the governor's office between Joseph Brooks and Elisha Baxter. Clayton, a supporter of Brooks's, raised troops in Jefferson County and marched them to Little Rock, Arkansas where they fought Baxter supporters. He remained loyal to Brooks to the end of the conflict when President
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
declared Baxter the rightful governor. Clayton remained involved in Arkansas politics in the years after Reconstruction. With the support of black Republican voters, he became sheriff of Jefferson County in 1876, being reelected to five successive, two year terms. In 1888, he ran to represent Arkansas's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, going up against incumbent
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
Clifton R. Breckinridge Clifton Rodes Breckinridge (November 22, 1846 – December 3, 1932) was a Democratic alderman, congressman, diplomat, businessman and veteran of the Confederate Army and Navy. He was a member of the prominent Breckinridge family, the son o ...
. The election became one of the most fraudulent in Arkansas's history. Clayton lost the election by a narrow margin of 846 out of over 34,000 votes cast. However, in one case in
Conway County Conway County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Created as Arkansas's 11th county on October 20, 1825, Conway County has four incorporated municipalities, including Morrilton, the county seat and most populous city. The county ...
, four masked and armed white men stormed into a predominantly black voting precinct and, at gunpoint, stole the ballot box that contained a large majority of votes for Clayton. Losing under such circumstances, Clayton decided to contest the election and went to
Plumerville, Arkansas Plumerville is a city in Conway County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 826 at the 2010 census. Geography Plumerville is located in southern Conway County at (35.160896, -92.642794), along U.S. Route 64, which leads east to Meni ...
to start an investigation on the matter. On the evening of January 29, 1889, an unknown assailant shot through the window to the room he was staying in at a local boardinghouse and killed him instantly. He was later declared the winner of the election and Breckinridge was unseated and the seat declared vacant. His assassin was never found.


Personal life

Clayton married Sarah Ann and together they had six children. Clayton is interred in Bellwood Cemetery in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.


See also

* List of assassinated American politicians *
Clayton family The Clayton family is an old Quaker family that came to America with William Penn in 1682 and has been prominent politically, particularly in Pennsylvania and Delaware. In 1682 William Penn sailed for America with a large fleet of ships carrying im ...
* List of unsolved murders *
List of members-elect of the United States House of Representatives who never took their seats Some people who were elected to the United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chambe ...


References


External links

* Barnes, Kenneth C. ''Who Killed John Clayton? Political Violence and the Emergence of the New South, 1861–1893''. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1998. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clayton, John M. 1840 births 1889 deaths 1889 murders in the United States 19th-century American politicians Activists for African-American civil rights Arkansas sheriffs Republican Party Arkansas state senators Assassinated American politicians Burials in Arkansas Deaths by firearm in Arkansas Elected officials who died without taking their seats Electoral fraud in the United States Male murder victims Republican Party members of the Arkansas House of Representatives People from Delaware County, Pennsylvania People murdered in Arkansas People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War Politicians from Pine Bluff, Arkansas American twins Union Army colonels Unsolved murders in the United States