Was Henry Clay for slavery?
. When he died he owned some 50 slaves. In his will, Clay ordered that his remaining slaves be distributed among his family but provided that all children born of these slaves after January 1, 1850, should (at age 25 for females and 28 for males) be liberated and transported to Liberia. In 1816, Clay was one of the founders of the American Colonization Society, which promoted sending freed slaves to Africa. The racism which he shared with most Americans was an important motivation in the society. His racism was not, however, restricted to African Americans; he also said Native Americans were “not an improvable breed,” and that they were not “as a race worth preserving.
