WEBSTER, DANIEL ( . An Ameri can statesman, orator, and constitutional lawyer. He was born in Salisbury (now Franklin), N. H., .January 18, 1782, studied for a few months at Exeter Academy in 1797, then was under the care of a private tutor for a short time, after which be entered Dartmouth College, gradu ating in 1801. After his graduation he began the study of law in an office at Salisbury, served for a few months as principal of the Fryeburg (Maine) Academy. then resumed his legal studies at Salisbury and in 1SO4 removed to Boston and entered the law- office of Chris topher Gore as student and clerk. In 1805 he was admitted to the bar and began practice at Boscawen, but in 1807 removed to Portsmouth, where he soon acquired distinction. Having be come something of a political pamphleteer and public speaker, Webster was in 1512 elected by the party opposed to the war with England to a seat in Congress and was reelected in 1814. He was placed on the important Committee of For eign Relations, and while acting with the anti war party, he did not go to the extreme lengths which some of the New England Federalists did in their opposition to the Administration. His speeches against the embargo and in favor of strengthening the navy, on the currency, the bank, and the tariff, were among the ablest de livered in Congress, but in several instances they did not exhibit the broad nationalism of which he afterwards became the foremost advocate. In 1816 Webster removed to Boston. and for nearly seven years devoted himself to the prac tice of law. He soon rose to the position of one of the foremost advocates of the country and appeared in many of the famous cases of the day, among them the Dartmouth College and the Girard Will cases. (See DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CASE.) In 1820 he served as a delegate to the convention called to revise the Constitution of Massachusetts and took a conspicuous part in the work of that body. In the same year he de livered the oration at Plymouth in commemora tion of the landing of the Pilgrims; this was fol lowed in 1825 by an oration on the occasion of the laying of the co•ner-stone of the Bunker 11 ill Monument and by a eulogy on Adams and Jef ferson in 1826—three addresses which established his fame as one of the great orators of the time.
In the meantime. in 1822. Webster had been elected to Congress from the Poston district, and was twice reelected by a practically unanimous vote. As chairman of the Judiciary Committee he was instrumental in securing a codifieation of the criminal jurisprudence of the United States. Ile made notable speeches on the Greek Revolution and in opposition to the protective tariff measure of 1821. In 1827 he was elected to the United States Senate. Ile now abandoned his opposition to protective tariffs and became a supporter of the measure of 1828 known as the tariff of 'abominations.' In 183(1 his fame as an orator reached its cuhnination in his reply to the speech of Robert Y. Ilayne (q.v.), Senator from South Carolina, on the nature of the Union and right of nullification. In this epoch-making
oration Webster successfully combated the theory of nullification and ably vindicated the na tionalist view of the Ilnion. Ilis :1rguinent was later supplemented and renforced in debate with Calhoun. In the controversy over the re newal of the charter of the United States Bank, Webster advocated renewal and opposed Jack son's financial policy in general. Upon the or ganization of the Whig l'arty, Webster became one of its leaders, and in 1831; received the elec toral vote of Massachusetts for President. In the Presidential campaign of 1840 he took an active part, and upon the election of Harrison was appointed Secretary of State, a position which lie retained under Tyler. In this capacity lie managed, with tact, the cases growing out of the McLeod and Creo/c affairs (q.v.), and brought to a successful conclusion the negotia tions with Lord Ashburton chiefly for the settle ment of the northeast boundary dispute with Great Britain. (See WEBSTER-ASHBURTON TREATY.) He now retired from the Cabinet, chiefly on account of President Tyler's break with the Whigs, declined a reelection to the Sen ate, and resumed his law practice in Boston.
In 1844 he was again suggested for the Presi dency, but his following was small, and in the succeeding year he reentered the Senate as the successor of Rufus Choate, in which capacity lie opposed the annexation of Texas and the war with 'Mexico. Webster greatly desired the Whig nomi nation for the Presidency in 1848, and was sorely disappointed at the nomination of Taylor, pro nouncing it as 'one not fit to be made.' He at first declined to support Taylor's candidacy, hut later ably defended the Whig Administration. His last years in the Senate were devoted to efforts to preserve the Union and maintain peace be tween the North and the South by means of compromise. His last great speech and one of the most notable of his life, was that delivered in the Senate, March 7, 1850, on the Compromise Measures of 1850, in which he rebuked the North for agitating the slavery question and for violating the Fugitive Slave Law, and advocated concessions to the South. The speech aroused indignation at the North, where it was said that he was truckling to the Smith in order to gain support in his candidacy for President. Upon the succession of Fillmore to the Presidency in 1850, Webster became Secretary of State. Again in 1852 he was disappointed in not receiving the Whig nomination for the Presidency, refused to support the candidacy of General Scott, and took ro part in the campaign. He returned to Marsh field in September, and there, after a brief ill ness, he died on October 24th. IIis only sur viving son, Fletcher, was killed at the battle of Bull Bun in 1862.
Webster's private correspondence in two vol umes was published at Boston in 1957. A standard Life is that of George T. Curtis (Bos ton, 1S70). Other biographies were prepared by Lodge (ib., 1883), Scudder (ib., 1882), and (New Work, 1002).