WEBSTER 



0236 



WEBSTER 



the case of McCullocli vs. Maryland, in which 

 he argued that a state could not tax a branch 

 bank of the national government, and the case 

 of Gibbons vs. Ogden, in which the right of 

 Congress to control interstate commerce was 

 definitely established. 



On the two-hundredth anniversary of the 

 landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, Webster deliv- 

 Plymouth one of the great speeches 

 upon which his fame as an orator rests. In 

 B stirred his listeners with another elo- 

 quent oration, at the laying of the corner stone 

 of Hunker Hill Monument, and the following 

 year he delivered his splendid eulogy on John 

 Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom 

 died on July 4, 1826. Meanwhile, in 1822, the 

 Boston district in which he lived had elected 

 him to Congress. He served in the House until 

 1827, and in that year began his long and illus- 

 trious career in the Senate. In 1828 bitter op- 

 position was aroused in the South by the so- 

 called ''tariff of abominations," and out of the 

 controversy rose the issue of nullification. It 

 was the defense of this dangerous doctrine, on 

 the part of Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South 

 Carolina (1830), that inspired Webster's mas- 

 terly reply with its ringing "Liberty and Union, 

 now and forever, one and inseparable." Con- 

 gress then entered upon the discussion concern- 

 ing the renewal of the United States Bank 

 charter. President Jackson's arbitrary policy in 

 this and other matters drew together a large 

 number of malcontents, and they organized the 

 Whig party, with Webster as one of the leaders. 



In 1840 the Whig candidate, William Henry 

 Harrison, was elected to the Presidency on the 

 strength of his personal popularity. Webster, 

 who was far better qualified than Harrison for 

 the higher post, accepted appointment as Sec- 

 retary of State, and retained his office under 

 Harrison's successor, John Tyler, until he had 

 completed the negotiations of the Webster- 

 Ashburton Treaty. In May, 1843, he resigned 

 from the Cabinet, partly because the Whigs 

 objected to having one of their number asso- 

 ciated with Tyler, who was a Democrat. 



Webster reentered the Senate in 1845. He 

 vigorously opposed the annexation of Texas 

 and the war with Mexico, because he dreaded 

 to see further extension of slave territory, but, 

 even with all his love for the Union, he favored 

 compromise rather than war with the South. 

 His attitude on the Compromise of 1850 disap- 

 pointed his Northern friends, especially the 

 Abolitionists. In a great speech supporting the 

 famous measure he advocated concessions to 



the South, thereby bringing upon himself the 

 charge that he was playing for the favor of 

 slaveholders and seeking their support in his 

 aspirations for the Presidency. It was this 

 attitude that moved Whit-tier to write his poem 

 Ichabod, beginning 



So fallen ! so lost ! the light withdrawn 



Which once he wore ! 

 The glory from his gray hairs gone 



Forevermore ! 



Webster's career was now drawing to a close. 

 He became Secretary of State in Fillmore's 

 Cabinet in 1850, and made his second term in 

 this office forever memorable by his champion- 

 ship of Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot 

 who had unsuccessfully attempted to set up a 

 republic in his native land. In his correspond- 

 ence with the Austrian government Webster 

 declared that the United States would sympa- 

 thize with "responsible and popular govern- 

 ment in any part of the world." This was his 

 last important public act. On October 24, 1852, 

 the great orator died at his home at Marshfield, 

 Mass., and the nation, mindful only of his un- 

 selfish and unfaltering devotion to his country, 

 united to honor his memory and to mourn his 

 passing. B.M.W. 



Consult McMaster's Daniel Webster; Fisher's 

 Webster. 



Related Subjects. The following articles in 

 these volumes will explain certain references in 

 the above discussion : 



Calhoun, John C. Hayne, Robert Young 



Clay, Henry Kossuth, Louis 



Compromise of 1850 Nullification 



Dartmouth College, Webster- Ashburton 



subhead Dartmouth Treaty 



College Case 



WEBSTER, NOAH (1758-1843), the author 

 of Webster's Dictionary and of Webster's Spell- 

 ing Book. He was born in Hartford, Conn., 

 and was graduated from Yale, after serving as 

 a volunteer in the Revolutionary War in the 

 midst of his college course. He prepared to 

 practice law, but taught school for some years, 

 instead; and it was his experience as a teacher 

 which led him to write his famous spelling book. 

 Although less than one cent a copy was allowed 

 him as royalty on this work, the income was 

 sufficient for the support of his family, for the 

 book sold by the millions. 



During the critical period of United States 

 history after the close of the war Webster 

 wrote man}' articles and pamphlets on political 

 topics, some of which had considerable in- 

 fluence in shaping public opinion. In 1807 he 

 began the great work of his life his American 



