Daniel Webster Period 1 APUSH

Daniel Webster was born on January 18th, 1782 in Salisbury New Hampshire. His family was not wealthy, so his father Ebenezer Webster made countless sacrifices  so that Daniel and his brother Ezekiel could get a good education. For almost a year in his youth, Webster attended Exeter Academy. Webster studied law at Dartmouth College and graduated in 1801. When he moved to Portsmouth in 1807 he rose rapidly and became a well known lawyer and began his career in politics. He was elected into the House of Representatives in 1813 by the Federalist party. He was very opposed to President Jackson and he became a Whig. In the House of Representatives, he was a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations. (Henry Clay appointed him and John C. Calhoun was the chairman of the Committee.) Webster was a very strong orator, and became known/ prominent in the House when he advocated the repeal of the Non-Importation Act and the Embargo Act in 1814. (He was an exceptional speaker, widely respected throughout history for his speeches.) Two years later in 1816, Webster moved to Boston Massachusetts and lost his place in Congress, however he built a powerful career as a lawyer. He fought in very high profile cases such as McCulloch vs. Maryland, Gibbons vs. Ogden and Ogden vs. Saunders. He also became known for participating in the Massachusetts State Constitutional Convention of 1820. (They revised some aspects of the Constitution) In 1823 he returned to the House of Representatives and served in the Senate. Webster was not fond of any or all of the tariffs and tariff conflicts. Along with the tax problems, he disagreed with President Andrew Jackson’s bank policy (giving a charter to the Bank of the United States) which pushed him in the direction of the Whig party. Also, he joined the Whig party because he aspired to become president, and he was nominated by Massachusetts in 1835. Unfortunately, he only received the electoral votes from Massachusetts and lost. The Whig party replaced Webster with William Henry Harrison four years later in the next presidential election. Webster was offered the postition of vice president, but he declined and instead accepted President Harrison’s offer for Secretary of State. When President Harrison died four weeks into his term and John Tyler succeeded him, every cabinet member except Webster resigned almost instantaneously. Soon after that, under pressure for the Whig party and his disagreements with President Tyler’s beliefs, he resigned in May of 1843. Two years later Webster became the leading spokesperson in the Whig party and once again served in the Senate. Unlike President Tyler, Webster opposed the Mexican War and the annexation of Texas. Five years later in 1850 he was again appointed as Secretary of State by Millard Fillmore the thirteenth President of the Untied States. Webster died on October 24, 1852 and was buried in the Winslow Cemetery. It is said that the nation had not mourned any person so much since the first president of the Untied States, George Washington. 

"Daniel Webster." NNDB: Tracking the Entire World. Web. 02 Nov. 2011. <http://www.nndb.com/people/445/000024373/>.

"WEBSTER, Daniel - Biographical Information." Web. 02 Nov. 2011. <http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=w000238>.

"Daniel Webster: Biography of Daniel Webster." History, Mythology, Ben Franklin, Latin Translations, Earthquakes... Web. 02 Nov. 2011. <http://www.sacklunch.net/biography/W/DanielWebster_1.html>.