Makers and Romance of Alabama History. B. F. Riley
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promptly recognizing any lack of deficiency in the developing structure, and with equal readiness supplying it with a sagacious eye to permanency, the interest of Governor Pickens was undiminished to the close of his term of office.
So distinguished were these traits of statemanship that they excited general comment among his distinguished contemporaries who insisted that in unsuspended fidelity, unselfish devotion, wise projection and skillful execution he has never been surpassed, if indeed equaled. That he succeeded to the fullest in the accomplishment of his difficult task is the verdict of posterity. Other executives since may have possessed more shining qualities, others still may have been more profound, while yet the deeds of others may have been more spectacular, but all who have succeeded Israel Pickens derived the benefit of that so ably done by him.
When he entered the gubernatorial office conditions were necessarily in an inchoate form. Rudeness and crudeness characterized the initial conditions on every hand. Valuable as the service of his predecessors had been, his lot was to raise into symmetrical proportions with every part perfectly adjusted a mighty commonwealth, ready to enter on its career worthily, alongside the older states. Existing conditions were incident to the emergence of a wilderness territory into the dignity of statehood. But when Governor Pickens retired from office as the state’s chief executive the structure was complete in all its parts. In the recent work of twelve large volumes, “The South in the Building of the Nation,” issued under the auspices of the Southern Historical Publication Society of Richmond, Va., Governor Pickens is alluded to as “one of the great state builders of the southwest.”
Nor did his career end with the expiration of his term of office as governor. The year following his retirement from the gubernatorial chair he was appointed a United States Senator by Governor Murphy. Almost simultaneously with this appointment came the offer of the federal judgeship of Alabama from President John Quincy Adams, but the latter offer was declined, and Governor Pickens entered the federal senate.
But Mr. Pickens was destined to enjoy senatorial honors but a short while. In the latter part of the same year of his appointment as a national senator, his lungs became seriously involved, tuberculosis was speedily developed, and he was forced to resign his exalted station and seek another and softer climate. At that time the West Indies was the favorite resort of those thus affected, and Mr. Pickens repaired to Cuba with the hope of recuperation in its balmy climate. But he survived his retirement from Washington only five months.
Senator Pickens had not reached the zenith of manhood and usefulness before he was stricken down, for at his death he was only forty-seven years old. His body was brought back to Alabama for interment, and he was buried within a few miles of Greensboro. In his death Alabama lost one of her most popular and eminent citizens, and one of her foremost statesmen. To him belongs the chief distinction of erecting Alabama into symmetrical statehood.
CLEMENT COMER CLAY
Governor Clay was among the pioneers of Alabama. He was a native of Virginia, the son of a revolutionary soldier, and was educated at Knoxville, Tenn. Law was his choice as a profession, to the practice of which he was admitted in 1809, and in 1811 he located at Huntsville, which continued to be his home till his death in 1866.
From the outset, he showed profound interest in the territory and in the promotion of its affairs, and two years after making Huntsville his home he enlisted against the Indians, and was chosen the adjutant of his command. His name is prominent among the territorial legislators in the two sessions held prior to the admission of Alabama into the Union.
When the constitutional convention was held, Mr. Clay was not alone a member, but was chosen the chairman of the committee charged with submitting the original draft of the constitution. In one especial sense he is, therefore, the father of the state of Alabama.
It was evident to the state builders of Alabama that no one was more profoundly concerned in its fundamental construction than Mr. Clay, and no one among those who had chosen the territory as a future home, was abler to serve the young state in its first totterings in seeking to get full upon its feet. The breadth and clearness of his vision, and the unusualness of his ability marked him as one who was in great need under such initial conditions. The character of his strength had been shown, and he was destined to become one of the early leaders of the new state. He was therefore chosen as a member of the supreme court, and in recognition of his legal ability, though younger than any other member of the new court, his associates chose him as chief justice, and he thus became the first to occupy that exalted station in Alabama.
The rapid increase of population and the newness of conditions in a young state were productive of increasing business, and called for men of legal ability. In response to this demand, Judge Clay retired from the supreme bench after a service of four years, and resumed his private practice. It was shortly after this that he felt impelled in response to a mistaken demand for vindicated honor, to brook a grievance against Dr. Waddy Tate, of Limestone County, by engaging in a duel with that gentleman. The result was the infliction of a painful wound to each, and the affair was over. Happily for civilization it has outgrown this method of settling disputes among men of sense.
Continuing for a period of years in his private practice, Judge Clay was chosen in 1827 as a representative to the legislature from Madison County. Two years later he was elected to a seat in the National Congress where he served with great efficiency for three terms of six years.
Offering for the governorship in 1835 against General Enoch Parsons, of Monroe County, the election resulted in his polling almost twice as many votes as his opponent. It was during his term of office as governor that troubles arose by an outbreak on the part of the Creek Indians. Governor Clay at once ordered out the state forces, and as commander-in-chief, took the field in person, co-operating with Generals Scott and Jesup of the army of the United States in the suppression of the disturbance. For about three months the troubles continued, but the unremitting activity of Governor Clay finally eventuated in the suppression of the outbreak, and peace was restored.
While he was still governor, Mr. Clay was elected to succeed Honorable John McKinley in the National Senate. In this new orbit he was brought into contact with the giants of the nation, and the services rendered by him are a part of the national history. It was through the efforts of Senator Clay that the pre-emption laws, discriminating in favor of settlers, were enacted. Multitudes have been the recipients of the benefit of this beneficent legislation without knowing or even thinking of its source. By means of this law, thousands have been able to procure homes on the public domain without which law it would have been impossible. No man in the National Congress was more active than he in the adjustment of the conditions for the greatest happiness to the greatest number.
Mr. Clay retained his seat in the National Senate only four years, when he retired because of his financial condition, to improve which he returned to the practice of law. However, his previous service on the supreme bench induced Governor Fitzpatrick to appoint him to a position in the court in 1843. Here he remained only a few months, a fact which it seems was contemplated in the appointment.
An additional service rendered by Governor Clay, and it was the last public service for the state, was that of the preparation of a new digest of the laws of Alabama, to which work he was appointed by the legislature. His manuscript, as he had prepared it, was accepted by the judiciary committee, submitted in unchanged form to the legislature, and has been in use as authority to this day. The closing days of Governor Clay were those of gloom. The occupation of Nashville by the federals in February, 1862, resulted in the capture of Huntsville, where numerous indignities were offered to many of the best people of the city of the mountains. Among those who shared in these indignities was the venerable Governor Clay. Because of his well-known sentiments, his home was invaded by the federal troops, claimed and regarded as national property, and Governor Clay was himself placed under arrest. He chafed under conditions like these, and at his advanced age he conceived that the doom of the country had come. Nor did the conditions of the close of the hostilities lend to his prospect any relief. Considerations like these he carried as a burden, until sinking