CLAY, HENRY
Autograph letter signed to John J. Crittenden seeking a Supreme Court opinion on slavery. New Orleans: 15 January 1843. 1/2 page autograph letter on a bifolium, written in blue ink and signed "H. Clay", with docketting notations on the verso, the address panel in Clay's hand with postmark and "free" stamp, 9 5/8 x 7 3/4 inches (24 x 20 cm). Folds, dust soiling and remnants of former mounting to verso, similarly to integral leaf which has small loss where opened.
Here Clay writes his political ally and fellow Kentuckian Senator J.J. Crittenden seeking "a Copy of the opinion of the Judges of the S. Court on the case of Slaughter (the Mississippi Slave case) decided Term before last, certified in the form to be used as evidence in a Court of Justice." Clay here refers to the landmark 1841 Supreme Court case Groves vs. Slaughter in which the court ruled that the states held the power of regulation over interstate slave trade (the case is considered a forerunner to the Dred Scott decision). Letters from Clay regarding slavery issues are uncommon.