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Thomas Clayton
United States Senator fromDelaware
In office January 9, 1837 – March 3, 1847
Preceded by	John M. Clayton
Succeeded by	Presley Spruance
In office January 8, 1824 – March 3, 1827
Preceded by	Caesar Augustus Rodney[1]
Succeeded by	Louis McLane
Chief Justice of Delaware
In office January 18, 1832 – January 9, 1837
Preceded by	Samuel M. Harrington
Succeeded by	John M. Clayton
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromDelaware'sfirst at-large district
In office March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1817
Preceded by	Henry M. Ridgely
Succeeded by	Louis McLane
5thAttorney General of Delaware
In office 1810–1815
Governor	George Truitt Joseph Haslet
Preceded by	Edward W. Gilpin
Succeeded by	George P. Fisher
Member of theDelaware Senate
In office January 3, 1821 – January 6, 1824
Member of theDelaware House of Representatives
In office January 4, 1803 – January 19, 1808 January 1, 1811 – January 3, 1815
Personal details
Born	July 1777 Massey, Maryland
Died	August 21, 1854(1854-08-21) (aged 77) New Castle, Delaware
Political party	Federalist National Republican Whig
Spouse	Jennette Macomb
Parent	Joshua Clayton (father)
Residence	Dover, Delaware
Alma mater	Newark Academy
Profession	Lawyer politician

Thomas Clayton (July 1777 – August 21, 1854) was an American lawyer and politician from Dover inKent County, Delaware. He was a member of theFederalist Party and later theNational Republican Party and the Whig Party. He served in the Delaware General Assembly, asAttorney General of Delaware, asSecretary of State of Delaware, as Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court, as U.S. Representative from Delaware, and as U.S. Senator from Delaware. In 1846 he was one of two members of theUnited States Senate to vote against declaring war on Mexico.

Clayton was born atMassey, Maryland in Kent County, Maryland, son of the former Governor of Delaware, Dr.Joshua Clayton, and Rachael McCleary Clayton. It is said he was born while his mother was fleeing invading British troops on the way from their Elk River landing to the Battle of Brandywine. While the Clayton's were natives of Kent County, Rachael McCleary was the niece and adopted daughter ofRichard Bassett, the aristocratic heir to the expansive Bohemia Manor estates. The family lived at Bohemia Manor, and through this connection, Joshua Clayton later acquired his homestead from these estates, inPencader Hundred,New Castle County.

Thomas Clayton graduated from the Newark Academy, now theUniversity of Delaware, studied law underNicholas Ridgely in Dover, Delaware, and began a law practice there in 1799. His wife's name was Jennette Macomb, they had four children and belonged to thePresbyterian Church. He was the cousin of U.S. SenatorJohn M. Clayton.

While pursuing his practice of the law, Clayton began his public career as the clerk of the Delaware House of Representatives in 1800. He then served as a member of that body for 8 years, between the 1803 session and the 1814 session. He was elected to the Delaware Senate for the 1808 session but resigned to become the Delaware Secretary of State for 2 years. Subsequently, he was appointed the Delaware Attorney General and served in that office from 1810 until 1815.

In 1814 Clayton was elected as a Federalist to one of two at-large seats Delaware had in the U.S. House of Representatives, and served one term there, from March 4, 1815, until March 3, 1817. While he was in Congress, it was proposed that the compensation given U.S. Representatives be increased $6 a day to $1,500 a year. Clayton supported the change, but it became very controversial, and his support of it caused him to lose the nomination of the Federalist Party to Louis McLane, beginning a long rivalry between the two men.

Clayton narrowly failed in an attempt to return to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1818 election but was returned to the Delaware Senate again in 1821. Then, when Caesar Augustus Rodney resigned as U.S. Senator from Delaware, the General Assembly elected him to serve out the term, from January 8, 1824, to March 3, 1827. Clayton thus became one of the last men affiliated with the Federalist Party to be elected to the United States Senate. This was the time when theFirst Party System of Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans was giving way to the Jacksonian Democrats, and those opposed to Jackson. Clayton, his family, and much of the old Federalist following in Delaware aligned themselves with John Quincy Adams and theNational Republicans who would later become Whigs.

After his term in the U.S. Senate ended, Clayton was appointed Chief Justice of theDelaware Court of Common Pleas in 1828. This court ceased to exist with the newDelaware Constitution of 1831, and Clayton was appointed Chief Justice of the newDelaware Superior Court in 1832. In 1833, Chief Justice Clayton became one of the initial trustees of Newark College in Newark, Delaware, which would later become the University of Delaware.

In 1837, Clayton's cousin, U.S. Senator John M. Clayton, resigned his office. Thomas Clayton was once again elected to the U.S. Senate to finish the term. After it ended, he was reelected in 1841 and served from January 9, 1837, to March 3, 1847. During this second period of service in the Senate, Clayton was at various times the Chairman of the Committee on Printing and a member of the Committee of Revolutionary Claims.

Clayton died of pneumonia at his retirement home at New Castle and is buried in theOld Presbyterian Cemetery, which is at Dover, on the grounds of theDelaware State Museum.

"A handsome man with polished manners, he was a stickler for dignity, decorum and punctuality at court session, and once ordered himself fined $10 for being 10 minutes late in appearing in court."^[2]

Thomas Scharf comments: "Chief Justice Clayton was profoundly versed in the principles of the law. He had a marvelous skill in perceiving the vital points of a case, largely due to his almost intuitive grasp of fundamental principles. He was prompt in deciding the merits of an issue and felicitous in the precision with which he formulated facts and conclusions. His words were few but masterly in force and point. Judge Clayton was eminently impartial in his judicial capacity. Neither distinction of the person nor relationships swayed his judgments. With respect to the lawyers at the Bar, he made no difference in the administration of rules between the eminent John M. Clayton and his own son who was a practitioner at the same bar. He meted out to all the same even-handed justice, and required of all the same respectful regard for the law and for decorum."^[3]

Elections were held on the first Tuesday of October. Members of the General Assembly took office on the first Tuesday of January. State Senators had a three-year term and State Representatives had a one-year term. The Secretary of State and Attorney General were appointed by the Governor and took office on the third Tuesday of January for a five-year term. U.S. Representatives took office on March 4 and have a two-year term.

The General Assembly chose the U.S. Senators, who also took office on March 4, but for a six-year term. In this case, he was initially completing the existing term, the vacancy caused by the resignation of Caesar Augustus Rodney. However, the General Assembly failed to fill the position for nearly a year.

• Conrad, Henry C. (1908).History of the State of Delaware, 3 vols. Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Wickersham Company.
• Martin, Roger A. (2003).Delawareans in Congress. Middletown, DE: Roger A. Martin.ISBN 0-924117-26-5.
• Martin, Roger A. (1995).Memoirs of the Senate. Newark, DE: Roger A. Martin.
• Munroe, John A. (1954).Federalist Delaware 1775-1815. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University.
• Scharf, John Thomas (1888).History of Delaware 1609–1888. 2 vols. Philadelphia: L. J. Richards & Co.
• Wilson, W. Emerson (1969).Forgotten Heroes of Delaware. Cambridge, MA: Deltos Publishing Company.

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Delaware’s Members of Congress
• Thomas Clayton atFind a Grave
• The Political Graveyard

• 1777 births
• 1854 deaths
• Politicians from Cecil County, Maryland
• Presbyterians from Maryland
• Federalist Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Delaware
• National Republican Party United States senators from Delaware
• Whig Party United States senators from Delaware
• Delaware attorneys general
• Secretaries of state of Delaware
• Members of the Delaware House of Representatives
• Delaware state senators
• Chief justices of Delaware
• Delaware Court of Common Pleas judges
• People from Dover, Delaware
• Delaware lawyers
• 19th-century American lawyers
• University of Delaware alumni
• Deaths from pneumonia in Delaware
• 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives
• 19th-century United States senators
• 19th-century members of the Delaware General Assembly

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