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[[{{Officeholder|name=Daniel Webster |image: =webster.jpg|thumbparty=[[Whig]]|rightspouse=Grace Fletcher; Caroline LeRoy Webster|300pxreligion=|offices={{Officeholder/secretary (cabinet) |of=State |number=19th |president=[[Millard Fillmore]] |terms=April 1, 1844 – March 10, 1845 |preceded=John M. Clayton |succeeded=[[Edward Everett]] }}{{Officeholder/secretary (cabinet) |of=State |number=14th |president=[[William Henry Harrison]]; [[John Tyler]] |terms=March 6, 1841 – May 8, 1843 |preceded=John Forsyth |succeeded=Abel P. Upshur }}{{Officeholder/senator |state=Massachusetts |terms=March 4, 1845 – July 22, 1850 |preceded=Rufus Choate |status=f |succeeded=Robert Charles Winthrop }}{{Officeholder/senator |state=Massachusetts |terms=June 8, 1827 – February 22, 1841 |preceded=Elijah H. Mills |status=f |succeeded=Rufus Choate }}{{Officeholder/representative |state= Massachusetts |district=1st |terms=March 4, 1823 – May 30, 1827 |preceded=Benjamin Gorham |former=y |succeeded=Benjamin Gorham }} {{Officeholder/representative |state=New Hampshire |district=at-large |terms=March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1817 |preceded=George Sullivan |former=y |succeeded=Arthur Livermore }}}}'''Daniel Webster''' (1782-1852) was an American statesman and conservative leader member of the [[Whig Party]] in opposition to the liberalism of that was widely known for opposing [[Jacksonian DemocracyAndrew Jackson]] during 's war on the [[Second Party System]]2nd Bank of the United States. The greatest orator of his day, Webster was of the most influential [[United States Senators]] in history. He also served as [[Secretary of State]] for Presidents [[William Henry Harrison]], [[John Tyler]] and [[Millard Fillmore]], and his statue stands in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall.

Webster was famous for his oratory, his legal and diplomatic skills, and his efforts to avoid the Civil War in the name of American nationalism. In an era that appreciated long complex speeches, Webster was acclaimed the greatest of all orators. He was one of the nation's most prominent conservatives, as an opponent of [[Andrew Jackson]] and the [[Democratic party]], a spokesman for modernization and the industrial interests of New England, and a leader of the [[Whig Party]]. During his forty years in national politics Webster served in the House of Representatives for ten years (representing New Hampshire), the Senate for nineteen years (representing Massachusetts), and served as Secretary of State for three presidents. He aspired to the White House but was an elitist, not a "man of the people," and the people knew it.

==Early Careercareer==

Webster moved to Boston in 1816 and, as attorney for the rising corporations located there, soon rose to be one of the best known and most highly paid lawyers of his time. Appearing frequently before the U.S. Supreme Court, he now abandoned his former states-rights views. In the '''Dartmouth College Case''' (Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 4 Wheat. 122 (1819)), he strengthened the constitutional protection of corporate privileges by successfully arguing that a corporation charter was a contract which no state could infringe. In McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316 (1819), he successfully maintained that states could not constitutionally tax a federal agency, for, as he said, the power to tax involved a "power to destroy." As a delegate to the Massachusetts constitutional convention of 1820 and in an address at Plymouth celebrating the bicentennial of the landing of the Pilgrims, he expounded a conservative philosophy centering on the proposition that, in the absence of military force, political power must be distributed among the people more or less in proportion to the ownership of property.

Webster opposed Jackson on the central issue of the day, the Second Bank of the United States. Webster tried and failed to prolong the federal charter for the bank, which expired in 1836. It was known and accepted at the time that he received a retainer from the bank for his political services to it. Along with his perennial Whig rival, [[Henry Clay]], he became a leader of the new [[Whig Party]] and in 1836 was one of its regional candidates for the presidency; he carried only his own state of Massachusetts.

in Webster's career. That he not only survived it, but also accomplished something of enduring value to his country is a tribute to his courage, his ability, and his guile. He was secretary of state under presidents [[William Henry Harrison]] (who only lasted thirty days) and [[John Tyler]] (1841-1843), who broke with the Whig party and was disowned by it. Webster remained in Tyler's cabinet until May 1843 at the cost of his own standing in the Whig party in order to advance the larger national interest as well the cause of peace. Always an admirer of Britain, and lionized on his visit there (1839), he considered good Anglo-American relations as desirable for economic as well as sentimental reasons, for Britain was the chief trading partner. The British negotiator Lord Ashburton was a banker with many financial and personal ties to America. The two of them overcame petty localisms--such localisms—such as the lumberjacks and farmers in the border region of Maine and New Brunswick who threatened violence if they did not get their border line. Webster did not ignore them but overcame them by flooding Maine with propaganda to the effect the new treaty was a great bargain. The two diplomats focused on the need to secure amicable relations between the two great powers in the North Atlantic, and they succeeded. They settled all the border issues that had festered for a half century by drawing compromise lines that proved final; they could not find a compromise on the Oregon question and dropped that issue. Likewise they settled the nasty legal disputes that had arisen when Canadian rebels used American merchant ships to bring in military supplies to the rebels inside Canada.<ref> Troubles had arisen in 1837 when Canadian militia burned a U.S. steamship, the "Caroline", in U.S. waters because it was used by rebels. Also involved was the 1840 arrest in New York State of a Canadian, Alexander McLeod, accused by New York officials of involvement in the Caroline affair. See Howard Jones and Donald A. Rakestraw, ''Prologue to Manifest Destiny: Anglo-American Relations in the 1840s'' (1997). Jones (1977) disproves old unfounded rumors that Webster took bribes from the British.</ref>

The slave trade issue was solved by agreement that the U.S. Navy would cooperate with the Royal Navy to halt the African slave trade, which was illegal in both nations.<ref>Informally Webster and Ashburton also solved two other high profile issues. The "Creole" was an American ship carrying slaves from one American port to another (which was legal). The slaves revolted and landed in Bermuda, where Britain set them free. Britain agreed to pay damages (which came to $110,330); Britain also agreed to end the impressment of American sailors which had been a casus bellum of the [[War of 1812]]. </ref> The [[Webster-Ashburton Treaty]] achieved peaceful relations that lasted until the Civil War in 1862 opened very serious new dangers.

Webster made many famous speeches, including the presentation to the Supreme Court in the Dartmouth College case, the Plymouth Speech (1820, where he interpreted the sweep of American history), the Second Reply to Hayne (1830, where Webster emphasized the indissoluble nature of the government), and the Seventh of March speech during the debates on the [[Compromise of 1850]], where he cried out for compromise and reconciliation to preserve the Union. In every case the theme was the links between past, present and future, especially the roles of [[Republicanism, U.S.|republicanism]] and civic virtue with nationalism a sacred cause that should override all other concerns.<ref> See David F. Ericson, "The Nullification Crisis, American Republicanism, and the Force Bill Debate." ''Journal of Southern History'' 1995 61(2): 249-270. Issn: 0022-4642 Fulltext: [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4642%28199505%2961%3A2%3C249%3ATNCARA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E in Jstor]]</ref>

In 1840 Webster spoke at Saratoga, New York, to rebut [[Andrew Jackson]]'s attack on the National Bank as a danger to the nation. Webster insists there must be some form of abstract assurance for the nation's economic continuity. His argument was not so much a specialist economic analysis but rather a depiction of the national currency as intrinsic and fundamental to the larger question of national unity and sovereignty. The logic of his presentation thus persuades the audience of its details by first getting it to embrace his grand vision of the American Union::"When that fluid in the human system indispensable to life becomes disordered, corrupted, or obstructed in its circulation, not the head or the heart alone suffers; but the whole body--head, heart, and hand, all the members, and all the extremities--is affected with debility, paralysis, numbness, and death. The analogy between the human system and the social and political system is complete; and what the lifeblood is to the former, circulation, money, currency, is to the latter; and if that be disordered or corrupted, paralysis must fall on the system. The original, leading, main cause, then, of all our difficulties and disasters, is the disordered state of the circulation. This is, perhaps, not a perfectly obvious truth; and yet it is one susceptible of easy demonstration. In order to explain this the more readily, I wish to bring your minds to the consideration of the internal condition, and the vast domestic trade, of the United States. Our country is not a small province or canton, but an empire, extending over a large and diversified surface, with a population of various conditions and pursuits. It is in this variety that consists its prosperity; for the different parts become useful one to the other, not by identity, but by difference, of production, and thus each by interchange contributes to the interest of the other. Hence, our internal trade, that which carries on this exchange of the products and industry of the different portions of the United States, is one of our most important interests, I had almost said the most important. Its operations are easy and silent, not always perceptible, but diffusing health and life throughout the system by the intercourse thus promoted, from neighborhood to neighborhood, and from State to State. This circuit of trade, in a country of such great extent as ours, demands, more than in any country under heaven, a uniform currency for the whole people; that what is money in Carolina shall be so elsewhere; that what the Kentucky drover receives, what the planter of Alabama sells for, what the laborer in New York gets in pay for his work, and carries home to support his family, shall be of ascertained and uniform value."<ref> ''Select Speeches of Daniel Webster 1817-1845'' (1903)</ref>

Webster was undoubtedly the best constitutional scholar of his generation and probably had more influence on the powerful [[John Marshall|Marshall Court]] than any other advocate. Of the 223 cases he argued before the Supreme Court, he won about half of them. But, even more, Webster played a crucial role in eight of the most celebrated constitutional cases decided by the Court between 1801 and 1824. In many of these--particularly these—particularly in Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819) and Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)--the Supreme Court handed down decisions based largely on Webster's arguments. Marshall patterned some of his Court decisions after Webster's briefs, and Webster played a crucial role in helping many of the justices interpret matters of constitutional law. As a result , many people began calling him the Great Expounder of the Constitution.<ref> Remini (1999) pp 162, 208</ref>

Whether people hated Webster or admired him--there him—there was little middle ground-- everyone ground—everyone agreed on the majesty of his oratory, the immensity of his intellectual powers, and the primacy of his constitutional knowledge. He was the heroic champion of nationalism and modernization.

Webster indulged his extravagant tastes (he spent enormous sums on wine, boats, and improvements to his Marshfield estate). A poor money manager, he relied on wealthy friends for indefinite "loans" to sustain his spendthrift lifestyle, a phenomenon that led his enemies to call him "Black Dan." Historians have not found any positions that he adjusted to curry favor with his rich friends, who saw it their duty to see what they considered the greatest man of the era be able to stay in office--they office—they called him "Godlike Dan." "Black Dan" had several mistresses, and drank excessively, but did not dramatically differ from other Senators in these regards.

Webster's "Second Reply to Hayne" in 1830 was generally regarded as "the most eloquent speech ever delivered in Congress," and was a stock exercise for oratory students for 75 years.<ref> Allan Nevins, ''Ordeal of the Union" '' (1947) 1:288</ref>

* Remini, Robert V. ''Daniel Webster'' (1997), 796pp; the standard scholarly biography and the most important place to start [httphttps://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Webster-Man-His-Time/dp/0393045528/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192442304&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]

* Smith, Craig R. "Daniel Webster's July 17th 17 Address: A Mediating Influence in the 1850 Compromise.'' Quarterly Journal of Speech 71 (August 1985): 349-61.

* Szasz, Ferenc M. "Daniel Webster--Architect Webster—Architect of America's `Civil Religion'.'' Historical New Hampshire 34 (Fall/Winter 1979): 223-43.

* ''Select Speeches of Daniel Webster 1817-1845'' edited by A. J. George, (1903) [http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/etext05/7sweb10.htm online at Project Gutenberg]<ref> Contains: Defence of the Kennistons; The Dartmouth College Case; First Settlement of New England; The Bunker Hill Monument; The Reply to Hayne; The Murder of Captain Joseph White; The Constitution Not a Compact Between Sovereign States; Speech at Saratoga; and Eulogy on Mr. Justice Story</ref>

* Wiltse, Charles M., Harold D. Moser, and Kenneth E. Shewmaker (Diplomatic papers), eds., ''The Papers of Daniel Webster'', (1974–1989). Published for Dartmouth College by the University Press of New England. ser. 1. Correspondence: v. 1. 1798–1824. v. 2. 1825–1829. v. 3. 1830–1834. v. 4. 1835–1839. v. 5. 1840–1843. v. 6. 1844–1849. v. 7. 1850–1852 -- ser1850–1852—ser. 2. Legal papers: v. 1. The New Hampshire practice. v. 2. The Boston practice. v. 3. The federal practice (2 v.) -- ser. 3. Diplomatic papers: v. 1. 1841–1843. v. 2. 1850–1852 -- ser1850–1852—ser. 4. Speeches and formal writings: v. 1. 1800–1833. v. 2. 1834–1852.

* [[Whig Party]]

 ==External Linkslinks==

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