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.
