1782-1852 · American lawyer, senator, orator, and Secretary of State
About Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster (1782-1852) was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire, graduated from Dartmouth College, and became the leading constitutional lawyer of his generation, winning the Dartmouth College case before the Supreme Court in 1819. He served as a Representative from New Hampshire and then Massachusetts, as Senator from Massachusetts from 1827, and twice as Secretary of State. He was the most celebrated American orator of his day, known for his Plymouth and Bunker Hill addresses and for his defence of the Union.
“When the mariner has been tossed for many days in thick weather, and on an unknown sea, he naturally avails himself of the first pause in the storm, the earliest glance of the sun, to take his latitude, and ascertain how far the elements have driven him from his true course.”
Daniel Webster's Second Reply to Hayne was delivered in the United States Senate on 26 and 27 January 1830, during a debate that began with a modest resolution from Senator Samuel Foot of Connecticut about limiting the sale of public lands in the West. Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina had turned the debate into an attack on New England, accusing it of selfishness toward the West and of disloyalty during the War of 1812, and had defended the doctrine, associated with Vice President John C. Calhoun, who was presiding, that a state may declare a federal law unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it.