The American Freedom Network

Remembering Daniel Webster

     Today is the Seventh of March.  Until the 1960s revolutionized education (for the worse, in my opinion), no course on American history would have been complete without mentioning Daniel Webster, arguably one of the 10 greatest Senators of all time.  His reputation was built to a considerable degree, not only on his skill as a legislator, but on his unmatched, both in the U.S. Senate and in American life and letters ion general, oratorical ability, in an age when such gifts were highly esteemed.  Webster had been famous since at least the “Dartmouth College Case” he argued, successfully, before the Supreme Court to save his alma mater from a hostile takeover by the New Hampshire Legislature.  So great was Sen. Webster’s reputation as an orator that, a lifetime after his passing, Stephen Vincent Benet had him win a man’s soul from the Devil in one of his stories.  His long career, which took him to the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, to being Secretary of State, and back to the Senate, before ending his career and life as Secretary of State once again, reached its’ climax with the speech he delivered on behalf of the Compromise of 1850 on this day.
     The Seventh of March Speech made enemies of many of his Abolitionist friends, whose leader he had been for two generations, and who idolized him for classic orations such as his Second Reply to Sen. Hayne (D-S.C.):  “Liberty and Union, Now and Forever, One and Inseparable!”  It did accomplish its’ purpose, however, in rallying moderates on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line by giving them cover to support Henry Clay’s last great compromise, the Compromise of 1850.  The Union remained intact for another decade, until after the voices of the Compromise Generation’s great champions – Webster, Clay and John C. Calhoun – were stilled.
     It is well to remember Daniel Webster’s sacrifice of reputation and popularity in the service of America on the anniversary of this crowning achievement of his old age.
Without his effort, his reputation with his friends and supporters may have outlived America, as the Republic may not have survived a plunge into civil war a decade earlier than it ultimately did.  For this reason, Daniel Webster was included among the six Senators then-Senator John F. Kennedy chose to honor with his Profiles In Courage (a favorite read of this writer’s in his youth).  And for this reason also, Sen. Webster is remembered here, today.  Rest in Peace.