Learning something new.... - Daniel Webster

This is part of my "Learning something new...." history series using United States postage stamps as our history book.

To read previous posts in this series, simply click here.

The next stamp in our history book is the 15¢ denomination featuring Daniel Webster
(1782-1852), issued in 1870:

Daniel Webster was born in New Hampshire and attended Phillips Exeter Academy before graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College. The War of 1812 with Great Britain brought Daniel Webster to national prominence on behalf of New England shipping interests and state's rights. His Rockingham Memorial composition of 1812, sent to President James Madison might, perhaps, be the first documented threat of secession by any state:

"If a separation of the states shall ever take place, it will be, on some occasion, when one portion of the country undertakes to control, to regulate, and to sacrifice the interest of another."

Such a statement by Webster is significant because of his unashamed interests in promoting, protecting, and solidifying the Union up until his death in 1852.

Along with John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay, he was part of the "Great Triumvirate." A Senate Committee chaired by Senator John F. Kennedy in 1957 named Daniel Webster as one of the five greatest United States Senators.

Other interesting facts about Daniel Webster:

1. One of ten children.
2. Admitted to the bar in Massachusetts in 1805
3. Webster's "Second Reply to [South Carolina Senator Robert] Hayne" of 1830 is still considered "the most eloquent speech ever delivered in Congress." The speech concerned nullification and protectionist tariffs.
4. 14th Secretary of State under William Henry Harrison and John Tyler, 1841-1843.
5. 19th Secretary of State under Millard Fillmore, 1850-1852
6. United States Senator from Massachusetts, 1827-1841
7. United States Representative from Massachusetts, 1823-1827
8. United States Representative from New Hampshire, 1813-1817
9. Webster ran three times for President of the United States.
10. One of his era's foremost constitutional lawyers.
11. As a delegate to the 1820 Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, spoke out against universal suffrage for men, believing that power vested in property and that voting rights should therefore be aligned with property rights. Universal suffrage for men was approved over his objections.
12. Opposed the annexation of Texas in 1845.
13. Webster was offered the Vice-Presidency of the United States twice, by William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor. Both Harrison and Taylor died in office.
14. In one of his most famous speeches, the Seventh of March [1850] speech concerning slavery, he characterized himself "not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a Northern man but as an American" as he lent his support to the slavery Compromise of 1850. Although his speech was popular in the South, his popularity waned and he never recovered.
15. He died after falling from a horse and suffering a cerebral hemorrhage, complicated by cirrhosis of the liver.
16. Mount Webster, in New Hampshire's Presidential Range, is named after him.
17. At Phillips Exeter Academy, the fifth floor of Phillips Hall is named after Daniel Webster and serves as the meeting spot for the Exeter Debate Team.
18. "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," by Mark Twain, features a frog named Daniel Webster.
19. Daniel Webster appointed the first Senate Page in 1839.
20. The Daniel Webster Family Home is in West Franklin, New Hampshire, and was declared a National Historic Site in 1974.

__________
Sources:

1. "Daniel Webster," by Henry Cabot Lodge
2. "Profiles in Courage," by John F. Kennedy
3. "Daniel Webster," by Irving Bartlett
4. "Daniel Webster and the Rise of National Conservatism," by Richard Current
5. "The Great Triumvirate: Webster, Clay, and Calhoun," by Merrill Peterson
6. Wikipedia
7. Arago: People, Postage, and the Post

 

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