Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/367

 WEBSTER

WEBSTER

of law for the purpose of accumulating money then mucli needed to pay his debts and support his family. In September, 1817, he made his first great argiiment in the Dartmouth col- lege case, and on March 10, 1818, made his final

HOME OF DANIEL WEBSTER, BOSTOAI.ANASS.

argument in that case before the U.S. supreme court, Washington. He spoke in Doric Hall, State House, Boston, Dec. 3, 1819, on the danger of the extension of slavery, and he was made chairman of a committee to present a memorial to congress. He was made a member of the state constitutional convention of Massa- chusetts in 1820, and the same year he pronounced his great oration at Plymouth to commemorate the landing of the Pilgrims, December 22. He was a representative from Boston by an almost unani- mous election in the 18th and 19th congresses, 1823-27, taking his seat Dec. 1, 1823, and was made chairman of the judiciary committee by Speaker Clay. On Jan. 19, 1824, he delivered his speech in the house in favor of appointing a com- missioner to Greece, and in Marcli he spoke against the tariff of 1824. On June 17, 1825, he de- livered his first Bunker Hill oration, and the next year, August 2, he delivered his eulogy on Adams and Jefferson in Faneuil Hall. He woi"e small clotlies and an orator's gown, and was in the per- fection of his manly beauty and strength, his unused manuscript lying on a table by his side. He was elected U.S. senator from Massachusetts in June, 1827; took his seat December 3, and was re-elected in 1833. His wife died in New York, Jan. 21, 1828, and on Dec. 12, 1829, he was married, secondly, to Caroline Le Roy of New York city, who brought him a considerable for- tune. He delivered an address in April, 1828, for the benefit of the surviving officers of the Ameri- can Revolution, and in May made his famous speech in the senate in favor of the tariff of 1828 and followed it by voting for " the tariff of abom- inations " making the grounds for his change of policy that his constituents in Massacliusetts had invested their money in manufacturing on the

faith that the government w6uld protect those industries. On Jan. 20, 1830, he made his first answer to Senator Hayne of South Carolina, and on Jan. 26, 1830, made his great reply and argu- ment against nullification, which became histori- cal. He supported the bill introduced to enforce the act of 1828 in a strong speech, Feb. 8, 1833, and the bill called the "force bill " or "bloody bill," was passed and became a law, March 2. On February 16, he replied to Calhoun's nullification arguments, his reply being that the constitution Avas not a compact between sovereign states. He made a tour of the Western states in the summer of 1833, looking to his candidacy for the Presi- dency in 1836. The Massachusetts legislature nominated him for the Presidency in 1836, there being no national convention that j^ear; the Democratic national convention at Baltimore May 20, 1835, having named the Van Buren and Johnson ticket. The other candidates indicated by state choice were William Henry Harrison and John McLean of Ohio; Hugh L. White of Tennessee; Willie P. Mangum of South Caro- lina, which nominations, with that of Mr. Web- ster gave to the country five Whig candidates in 1830. McLean withdrew before the election, and the Whig electoral votes %vere divided, 73 going to Harrison, 26 to White, 14 to Webster and 11 to Mangum. He made a powerful oration at Nib- lo's Garden, New York city, March 15, 1837, on the general question of slavery, and in it he warned the South against seeking to extend the institution, or to endeavor to arrest the strong feeling that existed and had taken hold of the consciences of men, saying that " should it be at- tempted, he knew of nothing even in the consti- tution or in the Union itself which would not be endangered by the explosion that might follow." He was re-elected to the senate in January, 1839, and spent that summer in Europe. His political friends, when they saw the overwhelming popu- larity enjoyed by General Harrison, and that he was sure of the Presidential nomination, advised Webster to allow the use of his name for Vice- Presidential candidate, but he peremptorily de- clined. Harrison was made the Whig candidate by the national convention that assembled at Harrisburg, Pa., Dec. 4, 1839, and Senator Web- ster, although personally disappointed, made a vigorous campaign for Harrison and Tyler. He resigned his seat in the senate, Feb. 22, 1841, and when Harrison was inaugurated he ac- cepted the cabinet position of secretary of state, and as such concluded a treaty with Portugal; negotiated the Ashburton treaty, which settled the northwestern boundary question between Great Britain and the United States; provided for the mutual extradition of criminals, and arranged for the suppression of the slave trade.