Henry Clay ended Hayden’s first marriage by selling his wife and child. Clay believed that slavery was wrong but favored gradual emancipation and “colonization” in Africa.
- U.S. Senate Collection
Kentucky statesman Henry Clay played a significant role in the life of Lewis Hayden.
One of the most prominent politicians in nineteenth century America, Clay served as a Senator, Speaker of the House, and Secretary of State under President John Quincy Adams.
Lewis Hayden married Esther Harvey and the couple had two children. Henry Clay purchased Esther and one child. Later he sold them and Hayden never saw his wife and child again. Hayden’s other child died in Kentucky.
Brush with Greatness
As a teenager Lewis Hayden encountered another historical figure. On a visit to Lexington, Kentucky the Marquis de Lafayette noticed fourteen-year old Lewis along the parade route and bowed in his direction. Hayden greatly valued Lafayette’s gesture of recognition. “That act burnt his image upon my heart so that I shall never need a permit to recall it. I date my hatred of slavery from that day.”
“I would never have raised my sword in the cause of America, if I could have conceived that thereby I was founding a land of slavery.”
– Marquis de Lafayette
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