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Daniel Webster
“A good, wise, perspicacious work, written in graceful English, free of jargon, offering intelligent conclusions.” ―Mark Harris, New York Times Book Review For forty years, until his death in 1852, Daniel Webster played a dominant national role as a lawyer, orator, congressman, senator, secretary of state, leader of two major parties, and perennial presidential candidate. This new biography, drawing on the recently collected Webster papers, explains the Webster phenomenon in terms of the powerful positive and negative images he projected for nineteenth-century Americans.
348 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
About the author
Irving H. Bartlett
10 books1 followerA graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, Irving Henry Bartlett obtained his master's and doctoral degrees at Brown University. He taught at Cape Cod Community College, the Rhode Island College of Education, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he was the John F. Kennedy Professor of American Civilization.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 11, 2024
This 295 page book is packed with great information about Daniel Webster. It was written in 1978 and is used as a reference in another book that I have recently read about Daniel Webster. This book is unbiased and gives you the facts about him. I do recommend this book. Great read!
January 12, 2019
Daniel Webster is one of those characters whose perspective keeps constantly changing generation to
generation. He was one of the ones chosen for the bitter calumny he suffered when he cast a vote
for the Compromise of 1850 in which one of the bills was a stricter Fugitive Slave Law. For John F.
Kennedy when he wrote Profiles In Courage, Webster was one of those selected as a profile because
his electoral career came to an end and he knew it. Now he's pilloried for having voted for it.
It was for the cause of the union and Webster believed that. But during his days as a Federalist member of the House of Representatives, Webster was brushed with his acceptance of the Hartford
Convention when the New England states met to decide whether to stay in the union or not because
of the War of 1812 which they did not believe in. The southerners and westerners never let him forget it.
Webster was born in 1782 of a New Hampshire Federalist family was elected in 1814 to Congress from there. After the War of 1812 and when his home in Portsmouth burned to the ground he made
a calculated decision to move to Boston. It was then and still is the place where the movers and
shakers of New England reside and he took his place among them.
Webster believed in representing his constituents and their interests. When New England's economy was based on ship building and trade he was for a low tariff for revenue. When New England became a hub for the industrial revolution and it wanted a protective tariff, Webster stood
for that. Either way he was a man who saw nothing wrong in looking for the main chance to
advance his fortune. New England merchants and industrialist treated him well.
He was a great lawyer and constitutional advocate, not even his enemies take that from him. Some
of his arguments were legendary. He personally hated slavery, took many a fugitive slave case.
Bought some slaves in order to free them. But he liked the union more.
He had a strange relationship with Andrew Jackson who when he was president advocated most
things Webster did not. But when South Carolina threatened to nullify the protective tariff law
that Jackson himself opposed, he cracked down hard and Webster was his strongest supporter in
the Senate. Webster's speech of "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable" was
one of the great orations of the century.
Webster served as Secretary of State for 3 presidents, Harrison, Tyler, and Fillmore. He was not a
believer in saber rattling diplomacy. In fact his achievements include the Webster-Ashburton treaty settling the permanent boundary of Maine and Canada and sending our first trade mission
to China under Caleb Cushing. He was a firm believer in no entangling alliances.
Ambitious he was, he made no secret he wanted the presidency. But as a Federalist, a National
Republican, and finally a Whig, Webster could never expand beyond New England for support though he offered his candidacy every year. In 1836 the year Martin Van Buren was elected Webster
did receive the electoral votes of Massachusetts and a scattering from other states. It's the closest
he ever got.
His is a character most complex and Professor Irving Bartlett reaches no real conclusions. Maybe
on reading this book you'll decide if he's more the Godlike Daniel or Black Dan.
generation. He was one of the ones chosen for the bitter calumny he suffered when he cast a vote
for the Compromise of 1850 in which one of the bills was a stricter Fugitive Slave Law. For John F.
Kennedy when he wrote Profiles In Courage, Webster was one of those selected as a profile because
his electoral career came to an end and he knew it. Now he's pilloried for having voted for it.
It was for the cause of the union and Webster believed that. But during his days as a Federalist member of the House of Representatives, Webster was brushed with his acceptance of the Hartford
Convention when the New England states met to decide whether to stay in the union or not because
of the War of 1812 which they did not believe in. The southerners and westerners never let him forget it.
Webster was born in 1782 of a New Hampshire Federalist family was elected in 1814 to Congress from there. After the War of 1812 and when his home in Portsmouth burned to the ground he made
a calculated decision to move to Boston. It was then and still is the place where the movers and
shakers of New England reside and he took his place among them.
Webster believed in representing his constituents and their interests. When New England's economy was based on ship building and trade he was for a low tariff for revenue. When New England became a hub for the industrial revolution and it wanted a protective tariff, Webster stood
for that. Either way he was a man who saw nothing wrong in looking for the main chance to
advance his fortune. New England merchants and industrialist treated him well.
He was a great lawyer and constitutional advocate, not even his enemies take that from him. Some
of his arguments were legendary. He personally hated slavery, took many a fugitive slave case.
Bought some slaves in order to free them. But he liked the union more.
He had a strange relationship with Andrew Jackson who when he was president advocated most
things Webster did not. But when South Carolina threatened to nullify the protective tariff law
that Jackson himself opposed, he cracked down hard and Webster was his strongest supporter in
the Senate. Webster's speech of "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable" was
one of the great orations of the century.
Webster served as Secretary of State for 3 presidents, Harrison, Tyler, and Fillmore. He was not a
believer in saber rattling diplomacy. In fact his achievements include the Webster-Ashburton treaty settling the permanent boundary of Maine and Canada and sending our first trade mission
to China under Caleb Cushing. He was a firm believer in no entangling alliances.
Ambitious he was, he made no secret he wanted the presidency. But as a Federalist, a National
Republican, and finally a Whig, Webster could never expand beyond New England for support though he offered his candidacy every year. In 1836 the year Martin Van Buren was elected Webster
did receive the electoral votes of Massachusetts and a scattering from other states. It's the closest
he ever got.
His is a character most complex and Professor Irving Bartlett reaches no real conclusions. Maybe
on reading this book you'll decide if he's more the Godlike Daniel or Black Dan.
January 22, 2018
Irving H. Bartlett's biography of Daniel Webster is solidly traditional, in the sense that it is a history of high politics. Bartlett stresses Webster's extraordinary personal ambition as the prime motivational force in Webster's decisions on foreign policy.
Using the political ambition explanation, Bartlett achieves an integrated portrait of Webster's career. Two examples demonstrate this approach. In encouraging American support for Greek independence in 1823, Webster was seeking to gain political capital by fostering the nationalism he had apparently stood in opposition to during the War of 1812. Webster's support for Hungarian nationalism in 1851 is explicable as yet another recourse to foreign policy pronouncement for domestic consumption. This time Webster was recovering from the unpopularity of the support he had given to the Fugitive Slave Law under the aegis of the Compromise of 1850. Bartlett proposes in like manner to explain most of the political actions of Webster as ultimately reducible to a lust for the presidency.
In Bartlett's defense it must be mentioned that he gives ample consideration to Webster's conservative ideology, which he portrays as rooted in a veneration for the Founders and the Constitution. Bartlett's Webster is frustrated in his ambition by an inability to graft democratic mannerisms to the republican ideals he cherishes. The ultimate tragedy of Bartlett's Daniel Webster is that he was a man born too late to be president. His account suffers from this reductionism.
Using the political ambition explanation, Bartlett achieves an integrated portrait of Webster's career. Two examples demonstrate this approach. In encouraging American support for Greek independence in 1823, Webster was seeking to gain political capital by fostering the nationalism he had apparently stood in opposition to during the War of 1812. Webster's support for Hungarian nationalism in 1851 is explicable as yet another recourse to foreign policy pronouncement for domestic consumption. This time Webster was recovering from the unpopularity of the support he had given to the Fugitive Slave Law under the aegis of the Compromise of 1850. Bartlett proposes in like manner to explain most of the political actions of Webster as ultimately reducible to a lust for the presidency.
In Bartlett's defense it must be mentioned that he gives ample consideration to Webster's conservative ideology, which he portrays as rooted in a veneration for the Founders and the Constitution. Bartlett's Webster is frustrated in his ambition by an inability to graft democratic mannerisms to the republican ideals he cherishes. The ultimate tragedy of Bartlett's Daniel Webster is that he was a man born too late to be president. His account suffers from this reductionism.
August 7, 2022
I am giving this book four stars, one for being about Dan’l Webster, and three for the actual book. This book pales in comparison to Robert Remini’s A Man and His Time, but it is still an okay take on a complicated man that not too many people remember, but whom all should know.
When read from the confines of the 21st century Webster is a flawed man who hit occasional greatness through his ability to weave thought, perspective, analysis and history. He was made for the 19th century. Today he’d be hosting a fringe podcast.
But without his presence in the 19th century the United States today would be a very different place, arguably a lot smaller.
This book does a decent job of letting the reader know what Webster did. If you want to read a great book on the Great Man read Remini. If you find yourself sent back in time to a high school library circa 1978-1982 this book will probably be there and is worth a read while you wait for Remini to finish his masterpiece.
When read from the confines of the 21st century Webster is a flawed man who hit occasional greatness through his ability to weave thought, perspective, analysis and history. He was made for the 19th century. Today he’d be hosting a fringe podcast.
But without his presence in the 19th century the United States today would be a very different place, arguably a lot smaller.
This book does a decent job of letting the reader know what Webster did. If you want to read a great book on the Great Man read Remini. If you find yourself sent back in time to a high school library circa 1978-1982 this book will probably be there and is worth a read while you wait for Remini to finish his masterpiece.
December 30, 2019
I would call this a political chronicle of Daniel Webster. So there are few amusing anecdotes or description of the impact of Webster. This book states what he did politically and does well to explain why.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews