born Oct. 19, 1810, Madison county, Ky., U.S.
died July 22, 1903, Whitehall, Ky.
U.S. abolitionist and politician.
The son of a slaveholder and a relative of Henry Clay , he was strongly influenced by the abolitionist ideas of William Lloyd Garrison . In 1845 he founded the antislavery publication True American in Lexington, Ky., but he was forced by opponents to move it to Cincinnati, Ohio, and then to Louisville, Ky., where it was renamed The Examiner. He helped found the Republican Party in 1854. As U.S. minister to Russia (186162, 186369), he helped negotiate the Alaska Purchase .