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 possessed a voice that could, as observers claimed, 'make the judiciary tremble.' With a commanding presence and a mind like a legal encyclopedia, he became the foremost attorney of his era, arguing seminal cases like Gibbons v. Ogden and McCulloch v. Maryland before the Supreme Court. His political career was built on a vision of a permanent and powerful Union. Serving as a senator and Secretary of State, Webster's legendary 1830 Senate debate with Robert Hayne was a masterclass in nationalist rhetoric, famously concluding 'Liberty and Union, now and for ever, one and inseparable!' Yet his compromises, particularly his support for the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act to preserve the Union, alienated abolitionist allies in his native New England and tarnished his moral standing. Webster died without achieving his greatest ambition—the presidency—but his legal arguments and soaring speeches provided the intellectual scaffolding for the modern American nation-state.
#1 When Daniel Was Born
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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!”
