[4][2] In May 1853, President Franklin Pierce appointed Clayton to serve as Consul to Havana, Cuba.
[1][5] An editorial in the Natchez Daily Courier condemned the appointment, asserting that Clayton had authored a secessionist address on behalf of a committee appointed by the legislature to respond to the Compromise of 1850, with the editorial describing Clayton as "a leader of the secession forces".
[1][6] Clayton nevertheless received the appointment; he resigned the following year, and was succeeded by Roger Barton in August 1854.
He resigned and was appointed as a Confederate District Court Judge for the balance of the year.
[1] In his obituary, Clayton was described as "a leader at the bar of two States and at the time of his death [who] had practiced law longer than any other man in the country".