WEBSTER, DANIEL, American statesman and jurist, was b. at Salisbury, N. H., Jan. 18, 1782, the second son of Ebenezer Webster, a small farmer, and justice of the county court. He entered Dartmouth college in 1797, and taught school in winter to pay his expenses, and aid his brother, Ezekiel, who became a distinguished lawyer, in fitting for college. On graduating in 1801 he commenced to study law, but was induced, by the offer of a salary of $350 a year, to become preceptor of an academy at Fryburg, 31e., paying his board by copying deeds. In 1804 he went to Boston, and entered the law office of Mr. Gore, refusing an appointment of clerk of the court of which his father was a judge, at $1500 ayear. In 1805, having been admitted to the Boston bar. he established himself at Portsmouth, N.H.; married in 1808; and having engaged in politics as a member of the federalist party, was elected to Congress, where he immedi ately took rank with the foremost men of the country. His speech on the Bet-:in and Milan decrees, and his mastery of the questions of currency and finance, gave him a high position ; but lie determined, in 1816, to remove to Boston, where, leaving politics. he engaged for several years in legal practice of the most extensive and varied character. In 1822 he was a member of the Massachusetts constitutional convention ; and Dec. 22, 1822, he pronounced at Plymouth, on the anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims, the first of that remarkable series of discourses, or orations, which gave him the first rank among American orators. In 1825 he gave an oration at the laying of the corner stone of the Bunker Hill monument; in 1843, one on its completion. In 1826 he pro nounced the eulogy of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two fathers and presidents of the American republic, who died on the same semi-centenary anniversary of the .declaration of independence; and in 1851 a patriotic discourse on the laying of the corner-stone for the extension of the capitol at Washjngton. In 1822 he was elected to
congress from Boston, and was distinguished by his speeches on the holy alliance and the Greek revolution, and his labors in the revision of the criminal laws of the United States. In 1826 he was chosen senator; and in 1830 rose to the height of his forensic renown in a speech of two days, in the debate with Mr. Hayne of South Carolina, on the right of " nullification." 'Webster and Clay were the leaders of the opposition dur ing the administrations of Jackson and Van Buren. In 1839 he visited England, Scot land, and France; and in 1841 accepted the post of secretary of state in the cabinet of gen. Harrison, and remained in that of Mr. Tyler, who, as vice-president, succeeded on the death of the president, until 1843. In 1844 he aspired to the presidency, but the choice of his party fell upon Mr. Clay, whom he supported, but unsuccessfully. He was chosen senator for Massachusetss, and again, in 1848, was disappointed of the presi dential nomination by the popular enthusiasm for the victor of Buena Vista, gen. Tay lor. His senatorial efforts at this period were directed to the preservation of the union by the advocacy of compromises on the slavery question, and he gave offense to the abolitionists by defending the fugitive slave law. In 1850 be became again secretary of state in the cabinet of Mr. Fillmore; and in 1852 was once more, and no doubt griev ously, disappointed at not receiving the nomination to the presidency, which was given to gen. Scott. He did not live to see the defeat of his rift]; but, after a brief illness, died at his country residence at Marshfield, Mass., Oct. 24, 1852. Mr. Webster was a man of very striking appearance, large, swarthy, with deep set eyes, a deep powerful voice, and a solemn and earnest manner. His collected writings and speeches have been published (6 vols. 8vo, 1851), and his correspondence (2 vols. 8vo, 1855).