Augustin Smith Clayton (November 27, 1783 – June 21, 1839) was a jurist and politician from the American state of Georgia.
Clayton also served as judge of the superior court of the western circuit of Georgia both preceding (1819–1825) and following (1828–1831) his state senate service.
In 1829, Clayton upheld the state's right to bring the territory of the Cherokee Nation within the jurisdiction of Georgia.
[3] Clayton maintained business interests in the construction of a cotton mill in 1827 known as the Georgia Factory on the Ocoee River located south of Athens.
In 1837, he delivered an address supporting the American Colonization Society in Athens, while he criticized the cause of abolition of slavery.
Clayton's granddaughter, Julia Carnes King, would marry another famous University of Georgia alumnus, Henry W.
Literary scholar John Donald Wade posited that Clayton was the ghost writer (or at least co-writer) of Crockett's autobiography, and possibly some of his other published works, but this suggestion has been robustly challenged.