Daniel Webster
A thunderous orator and constitutional giant whose voice defined American nationalism in the decades before the Civil War.
1782–1852 (age 70)·American lawyer and statesman·Birthday: January 18
Biography
Daniel Webster argued Gibbons v. Ogden and McCulloch v. Maryland before the Supreme Court, cases that reshaped federal power. Observers claimed his voice could 'make the judiciary tremble.' A lawyer with a mind like a legal encyclopedia, he served as a senator and Secretary of State. In his 1830 Senate debate with Robert Hayne, he closed with 'Liberty and Union, now and for ever, one and inseparable!' His nationalist rhetoric built a vision of a permanent Union. Yet his support for the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, intended to preserve that Union, alienated abolitionist allies in New England. Webster never achieved the presidency, his greatest ambition. He died in 1852. His legal arguments and speeches provided the intellectual scaffolding for the modern American nation-state.
#1 When Daniel Was Born
The biggest hits of 1782
Daniel's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1782Born
1787Started school
1795Became a teenager
1798Could drive
1800Could vote
1803Turned 21
1812Turned 30
1822Turned 40
1832Turned 50
1842Turned 60
1852Turned 70
Key Achievements
- Argued and won over 170 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, shaping early constitutional law.
- Delivered the 'Second Reply to Hayne' in 1830, a seminal speech defending federal authority and the Union.
- Served as U.S. Secretary of State under three presidents, negotiating the Webster-Ashburton Treaty that settled the U.S.-Canada border.
- Represented both New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate across multiple terms.
Did You Know?
His image appears on the U.S. $10 bill for several decades in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
He was a notoriously lavish spender and was chronically in debt despite his high legal fees.
The phrase 'the devil and Daniel Webster' originates from a later short story by Stephen Vincent Benét.
He was a founding member of the Whig Party alongside Henry Clay.
“Liberty and Union, now and for ever, one and inseparable!”
