be a "good" master, and biographer James C. Klotter concludes that Clay took actions, such as keeping families together, to mitigate the harshness of slavery. Klotter also concludes that there is no evidence that Clay ever had an affair with any of his slaves. Yet, as Clay himself wrote, "here in Kentucky slavery is in its most mitigated form, still it is slavery." Clay's will provided for the gradual emancipation of the slaves he held at the time of his death in 1852. However, he also stipulated that several slaves were bequeathed to his son, John. In 1829, Clay's slave, Charlotte Dupuy, sued for her freedom while visiting relatives in Maryland. Dupuy's attorney gained an order from the court for her to remain in Washington until the case was settled, and she worked for wages for 18 months for Martin Van Buren, Clay's successor as secretary of state. The case embarrassed Clay politically and personally, but he ultimately prevailed in court. After winning the case, Clay sent Dupuy to New Orleans, causing her to be away from her own family, but he later freed Dupuy and two of her children. Aaron Dupuy, Charlotte’s husband, was ordered whipped by Clay at the behest of his wife, Lucretia. Dupuy's infraction was a late return as Lucretia's carriage driver. The overseer attempted the whipping, but Dupuy managed to wrest the whip away. Dupuy began beating the overseer. He was not freed at the time of Clay’s death, but rather after the Civil War. Though some sources say Clay’s practice was to keep families together, other documented incidents show the contrary. In about 1836 Clay had an enslaved mother, Esther Harvey, and her son, sold South. They were the family of Lewis Hayden, a waiter at the upscale Phoenix Hotel. In about 1842, Hayden was threatened, also by Clay, with the sale of his second wife, Harriet Bell Hayden and her son Joseph who he had adopted. He secured the aid of Vermont resident Delia Webster and Oberlin College student Rev. Calvin Fairbank through the assistance of John Mifflin, AME minister and Oberlin OH resident. They crafted a successful escape plan via the Underground Rairoad through Maysville KY, across the Ohio River to the free states of Ohio and Michigan. The Haydens became residents of Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada. On January 4, 1845, Webster received a sentence of two years hard labor for her part