a young child, and he continued to own slaves throughout his life. However, in the 1790s, he adopted antislavery views under the influence of his mentor George Wythe. Like most of his contemporaries, Clay was not a racial egalitarian and never called for the immediate abolition of slavery, but he viewed slavery as a "grievous wrong to the slave" and spoke in favor of equal treatment for free blacks. Early in his career, Clay favored gradual emancipation in both Kentucky and Missouri, but each state rejected plans that would have provided for gradual emancipation. Clay continued to support gradual emancipation throughout his career and published an open letter in 1849 calling for gradual emancipation in Kentucky, though he qualified this view by stating he would only support emancipation if it included a plan for colonizing free blacks outside of the state. Unlike many other Southern leaders, he consistently favored recognition of Haiti, which had been established through a slave revolt. In 1816, Clay helped establish the American Colonization Society, a group that wanted to establish a colony for free American blacks in Africa. The group was made up of abolitionists who wanted to end slavery and slaveholders who wanted to deport free blacks. Clay's support for colonization reflected his belief that a multiracial society was ultimately unworkable, both for whites and free blacks. Later in his career, Clay became increasingly concerned about abolitionism, remarking that "the ultraism of the South on the one hand [...] and the ultraism of abolition on the other" represented the greatest threat to the Union. Nonetheless, he consistently defended the right of abolitionists to send materials through the mail and opposed the gag rule, which limited congressional debate on slavery. On his 600 acre plantation, Clay enslaved 122 people throughout his lifetime. Clay's status as a slave owner and his anti-slavery views would occasionally lead to conflicts in his political career. During a visit to Indiana in the 1840s, Clay was confronted at a political meeting by a Quaker abolitionist named Hiram Mendenhall, who presented Clay with a petition calling on him to free his slaves. Clay dismissed Mendenhall out of hand, stating his petition was no different than one demanding he give up his farm. Many contemporaries, including anti-slavery activist James G. Birney, believed that Clay's home state of Kentucky had the most permissive slave laws of any slave state. Clay considered himself to