View source for Alexander S. Clay

{{short description|American politician}}
{{other people|Alexander Clay}}

{{Infobox officeholder
|image = Senator Alexander S Clay.jpg
|jr/sr1            = United States Senator
|state1            = [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
|term_start1       = March 4, 1897
|term_end1         = November 13, 1910
|predecessor1      = [[John Brown Gordon|John B. Gordon]]
|successor1        = [[Joseph M. Terrell]]
|office2           = Member of the [[Georgia House of Representatives]]
|term2             = 1884-1887<br>1889-1890
|birth_name        = Alexander Stephens Clay
|birth_date        = {{birth date|1853|9|25}}
|birth_place       = [[Powder Springs, Georgia]]
|death_date        = {{death date and age|1910|11|13|1853|9|25}}
|death_place       = [[Atlanta]], Georgia
|party             = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
}}
[[File:Alexander Clay statue, Marietta, GA, US.jpg|right|thumb|Statue of Clay in [[Marietta, Georgia]] ]]
'''Alexander Stephens Clay''' (September 25, 1853{{spaced ndash}}November 13, 1910) was a [[United States senator]] from [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]].

==Biography==
Clay was born in [[Powder Springs, Georgia]], and graduated from [[Hiwassee College]] in [[Tennessee]] in 1875. He was admitted to the [[bar (law)|bar]] in 1877 and commenced practice in [[Marietta, Georgia]]. He served on the Marietta [[city council]] in 1880 and 1881.

Clay was a member of the [[Georgia House of Representatives]] from 1884 to 1887 and 1889 to 1890, and served as speaker [[pro tempore]] in 1886 to 1887 and 1889 to 1890. He was a member of the [[Georgia Senate]] from 1892 to 1894 and served as its president for his last two years in that body. In 1896 Clay was elected to the U.S. Senate and reelected twice (in 1902 and 1908).<ref name="cd">{{cite web |title=S. Doc. 58-1 - Fifty-eighth Congress. (Extraordinary session -- beginning November 9, 1903.) Official Congressional Directory for the use of the United States Congress. Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing by A.J. Halford. Special edition. Corrections made to November 5, 1903 |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/SERIALSET-04562_00_00-001-0001-0000 |website=GovInfo.gov |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |access-date=2 July 2023 |page=15 |date=9 November 1903}}</ref> As a U.S. senator, Clay served as chair of the [[United States Senate Committee on Claims|Committee on Revolutionary Claims]] and as a member of the [[United States Senate Select Committee on Woman Suffrage|Committee on Woman Suffrage]].

Clay died in Atlanta while in office in 1910 and was buried in the City Cemetery in Marietta.  [[Joseph M. Terrell]] was appointed to fulfill the remainder of Clay's term.

== Family relationships ==
One son was General [[Lucius D. Clay]], and another son was [[Eugene Herbert Clay]].

Two grandsons were General [[Lucius D. Clay Jr.]] and Major General [[Frank Butner Clay]].

==See also==
*[[List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{CongBio|C000478}}
* [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x004788306;view=1up;seq=9 Alexander S. Clay, late a senator from Georgia, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate frontispiece 1911]
* [http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/vsbg/id:jaj020 Photograph of the Liberty ship Alexander S. Clay under construction (second view), J.A. Jones Construction Company shipyard, Brunswick, Georgia, 1944 May 23]{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-sen}}
{{U.S. Senator box
|state=Georgia
|class=3
|before=[[John Brown Gordon|John B. Gordon]]
|after=[[Joseph M. Terrell]]
|alongside=[[Augustus Octavius Bacon|Augustus O. Bacon]]
|years=1897&ndash;1910}}
{{s-end}}

{{USSenGA}}
{{Speakers of the Georgia House of Representatives}}
{{Democratic Party of Georgia}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clay, Alexander S.}}
[[Category:1853 births]]
[[Category:1910 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Powder Springs, Georgia]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Democratic Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers]]
[[Category:State political party chairs of Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century United States senators]]
[[Category:19th-century United States senators]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly]]