Daniel Webster (1950)

[Music] Daniel Webster American statesman orator and constitutional lawyer whose dramatic words and personality caught the imagination of America and played a vital part in the development of national Unity was born in 1782 the son of ebener Webster of Salsbury New Hampshire the Websters were Hardy New England Farmers but Young Daniel was a sickly lad and the baby of the family ebener gave him leave to read and study and though Daniel grew up in an atmosphere of incessant Farm labor he knew more of books than of soil and the tools with which to till it you have many sons father you shall not work I'll learn the hang of this size if I have to I couldn't do it for your brothers but somehow would be as sham of you not to get a proper schooling takes a great deal of money I've heard be the money son but there must be the work from you have you impressed all the Salsbury Town folk with the way you can read write recite and commit to memory Webster boy they say he'll be a somebody someday after spending less than a year at Philips exter Academy Daniel had to return home and teach school but before his 16th birthday his father scraped together funds to send him to the highest institution of learning in New Hampshire Dartmouth College hi there Cony crawl through Webster one by the clock and all is well I have some ginger cakes you might be interested in no time for a party old boy I want to use your mirror it's better than mine how about some help with this Greek webster like a good brother of the United fraternity the art H you know as much about Greek as I do how do you expect to pass then I'll make out more important things to do you always make out America manfully springing from the torturing fangs of the British Lion now Rises Majestic in the pride of her sovereignty and bids her Eagle Elevate his wings wish I could twist a word like you Dan the best in the whole world and only a junior you must be right Cony because the people of this Fair city of Hanover have honored me with an invitation to deliver the oration on the 4th of July next well I'll be I'll bet it'll be published dartmouth's own black Dan man's words take on a lot of authority when he says them in front of a crowd imperious Britain hay Alia what a voice what expression it's really not so much it's just doing your best with what you've got you'll be a big man Dan no doubt about it thanks coni by the way could you lend me a few until the next mail add it to my account huh like a good fell well I I guess we can't let the best order ever to set foot in Dartmouth Hall go begging here after graduation popular black Dan Webster returned home to teach in nearby schools and eventually he obtained the funds to study law in the Boston office of Christopher Gore admitted to the New Hampshire bar in 18005 Daniel Webster hung out his shingle in the little community of bosan near Salsbury where he not only became very popular as a lawyer but also found the young school teacher who would listen to his Ambitions Grace Fletcher is that what you're trying to tell me Mr Webster but you'll soon leave for Boston not Boston but Portsmouth which will one day be a greater City of Commerce than Boston itself you're a man of many words sir but the Daniel Webster that I've seen AED by a sunset is a much simpler man a better one by Heaven Grace you have it straight my talk is too flowery but the way to get across to a judge or a jury is to use flowery words you can win a case or a vote you can become president if you talk big can a man who contacts debts afford to go into politics I'm proud that you concern yourself with my financial difficulties but I am I'm going to talk plain to you Grace I leave for Portsmouth as soon as I'm admitted to Superior Court practice as soon as I get established Grace may I return and make you my wife would that your voice were not so Grand a great man is at least half myth I should find it difficult to love a myth but must we wait until you return it was in Portsmouth that Daniel Webster gained stature as a lawyer and on July 4th 1812 with the nation committed to a war with England a war highly unpopular in foreign tradem minded New England a meeting of protest was held there resistance and Insurrection form no part of our Creed by the exercise of our constitutional right of suff by the peaceful remedy of election we shall seek to rest restore wisdom to our councils and peace to our country with this single speech young men you've become the foremost Federalist of ringham County never never have I heard President Madison and those southern congressmen John Calhoun and Henry Clay could but hear your plea for peace it is obvious that Southern Plan like Calhoun and Western warhawks like Henry Clay have no sympathy for the Commerce of New England they fear our growth but one day gentlemen there will be a different majority but first Mr Webster would you accept the nomination of the Federalist Party for the seat of Rockingham County in Congress major locken I am deeply honored however I must decline I have a family to care for a legal practice to develop the pay of a congressman you understand gentlemen I see I regret your decision young man and admire you for it the party will need your powerful voice in the days ahead it is at your disposal what my father wouldn't give to see this day one speech and straight to Washington the cases I could take there kill two birds with one stone politics and cases before The Supreme Court oh Dan I'm so proud of you turning down that in favor of your family I was afraid all that cheering had gone to your head yes sir turn them down and they stay interested don't you worry Grace they'll be back they'll be back a month later Daniel Webster accepted the nomination to the House of Representatives in November he was elected Daniel Webster served two terms in Congress acting as an eloquent spokesman for the shipping and mertile interests of New England he gained a good reputation as an aitor and supreme court lawyer and in 1816 he moved to Boston to practice law his object was money and he made a great deal of it but always managed to spend more than he made Daniel Webster's voice was becoming a legend and in 1822 he had so captured the people of Boston they sent him to Congress again yes sir that's a button straight from the code of Daniel Webster body it from I got a cousin that's got a genuine Daniel Webster Co button too hey I went down to Boston to hear him dedicate the Bunker Hill Monument last month 20,000 people there was that's when I got this one I hear tell he's up here at nager Falls right now on a vacation with his wife and judge Joseph story of the Supreme Court Daniel Webster himself heard him speak 5 years ago at Plymouth the African slave trader is a pirate and a felon those are his exact words wish I had that button Charlie venerable men you should have seen Dan at Bunker Hill talking to those old revolutionary veterans is enough to make a grown man cry you are where you stood 50 years ago this very hour you are where you stood 50 years ago this very hour with your brothers and your neighbors shoulder toosh shoulder in The Strife for your country behold how alter that's him that's black Dan Webster I tell you is it true I am Daniel Webster and this is Justice Joseph story who will pardon me if I indulge of course Daniel we himself boys the grogs on the house uh Congressman Webster sir excuse me I uh what is it my good man what may I do for you is it true that you're a graduate of Dartmouth College sir I have that honor then when you argued the Dartmouth College case before The Supreme Court you were really fighting to save the school that learned you how you should have know that Charlie everybody knows that I argued not only to save the private Integrity of the college sir but also even more to protect the rights of private property the sanctity of contracts against any state government that would attempt to impair them Mr Webster do you consider slaves to be private property that is a good question my friend yeah I detest slavery judge story sir is it true that Mr Webster made Chief Justice John Marshall cry when he argued the Dartmouth College case in front of the Supreme Court that is a fact I've heard that judge Marshall is a hard man well it's possible that he might have shed tears Justice Marsh wept and with these words it is Sir as I have said a small college and yet there are those who love it sir I know not how others may feel but for myself when I see my alma mat surrounded like Caesar in the Senate house by those who are reiterating stab upon stab I would not for this right hand have her turn to me and say a too ququ me and thou too my son s wish I had that button Charlie by 1827 New England had turned from trade to Industry the rising Northern industrialist sent Daniel Webster to the Senate to defend the protective ter against the protests of the free trade South for Webster had turned from State's rights Doctrine to become an Ardent advocate of increasing National Power in 1830 Daniel Webster faced the greatest battle of his career in the Senate my dear Senator what may I ask what sort of uniform is that I have chosen this costume in order to set me off from the rest of the Senate it will gain attention and attention is what I need to prove the words of Senator Hayne of South Carolina Mr Calhoun's mouthpiece as fragile treasonable and unconstitutional it will kill Calhoun I doubt it but I will try to kill forever his doctrine of nullification I will show that the true interpretation of our federal union and Constitution is one of a popular government erected by the people not by their state governments it has its own powers the states have theirs the states may not modify the federal powers only the people of the Union together who formed it the union May thank heaven for your voice for your power of expression her fate is with you now but will the union thank me thus the legend and the man that was Daniel Webster Rose to the noblest effort of his career he spoke for two successive days and ended with his famous and ium to the union I hope I may not see the flag of my country smoking with a blood of Civil War I hope I shall not see written as its M first Liberty and then Union I hope to see spread all over it blazed in letters of light and proudly floating over land and sea that other sentiment dear to my heart Union and Liberty now and forever one and [Music] inable with Webster's reply to Hayne and president Jackson's inexorable stand against nullification the immediate danger of southern rebellion passed and Webster now at the peak of his political power helped organize the wig party and hoped to become its first candidate for president he was disappointed but in 1840 the wigs won with the election of General William Henry Harrison and Daniel Webster became Secretary of State he successfully concluded the Webster Ashton treaty which settled a Northeast boundary dispute with Great Britain then retired to his Boston law practice by 1850 however Daniel Webster was back in the Senate and the struggle over slavery the conflict between South and North was reaching a climax how you like to be president Senator Webster that's a blunt question to come from Henry Clay I don't know I suppose my ambition for the office has been as great as yours all I had to do was accept the vice presidency on the Harrison ticket and I would have been in the white house instead of Tyler but that's a l long time ago but I may still have a way for you to succeed Webster it's not yet too late you came here to tell me this you must be serious Henry what is it you need it's what the country needs Webster twice I've kept the issue of slavery from disrupting the union today President Taylor called for the admission of California unless we achieve compromise the union is doomed fanatics on both sides are breaking it apart but what am I to do the people of my section are opposed to slavery and I've worked against slavery all my life the 7th of March 1850 Daniel Webster took the floor of the Senate to make what he called a union speech in defense of Clay's compromise Mr President I wish to speak today not as a Massachusetts man nor as a northern man but as an American and a member of the Senate of the United States I have a part to act not for my own security or safety for I am looking out for no fragment upon which to float away from the wreck if wreck there must be but for the good of the whole for the preservation of all I speak today for the preservation of the Union hear me for my cause the repercussions of the 7th of March speech were heard around the country Mr secretary I could not wait to congratulate you president Filmore could not have made a better choice for Secretary of State sir man what's wrong with you I would not have believed it the anti-slavery men are up in arms against me for my compromise with a South and of all the men in the north who've called me turn coat it remains for John Green Leaf Wittier to ruin me most completely aabad he calls it so fallen so lost when faith is lost when honor dies the man is dead as a legislator was I to go beyond that Constitution by which I was charged to stand a fall what have I done clay you have laid claim to the White House Webster somehow I don't think so by compromising with slavery I have made the worst political blunder in my life I would like the honor of being president of the United States clay but if I have lost that so the union might remain my conscience is clear alleged even before his death he has continued to gain stature in America's memory for Daniel Webster had the power to articulate the principles of American patriotism in clear and thrilling phrases he sounded the watchword of America for his own day and for its future Union and Liberty now and forever one and inseparable the