Chapter I: Front Matter

</pre>

Produced by Katherine Ward, Bryan Ness, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.)

THE WORKS OF DANIEL WEBSTER.

VOLUME I.

EIGHTH EDITION

BOSTON:
LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY.
1854.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by GEORGE W. GORDON AND JAMES W. PAIGE, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

CAMBRIDGE:
STEREOTYPED BY METCALF AND COMPANY,
PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY.
PRINTED AT HOUGHTON AND HAYWOOD

DEDICATION
OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

TO MY NIECES,
MRS. ALICE BRIDGE WHIPPLE,
AND
MRS. MARY ANN SANBORN:

Many of the Speeches contained in this volume were delivered and printed in the lifetime of your father whose fraternal affection led him to speak of them with approbation.

His death, which happened when he had only just past the middle period of life, left you without a father, and me without a brother.

I dedicate this volume to you, not only for the love I have for yourselves, but also as a tribute of affection to his memory, and from a desire that the name of my brother,

EZEKIEL WEBSTER,

may be associated with mine, so long as any thing written or spoken by me shall be regarded or read.

DANIEL WEBSTER.

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

PAGE
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR.

CHAPTER I. xiii
Former Editions of the Works of Mr. Webster, and Plan of
this Edition.--Parentage and Birth.--First Settlements
in the Interior of New Hampshire.--Establishment of his
Father at Salisbury.--Scanty Opportunities of Early
Education.--First Teachers, and recent Letter to Master
Tappan.--Placed at Exeter Academy.--Anecdotes while
there.--Dartmouth College.--Study of the Law at
Salisbury.--Residence at Fryeburg in Maine, and
Occupations there.--Continuance of the Study of the Law
at Boston, in the Office of Hon. Christopher
Gore.--Admission to the Bar of Suffolk,
Massachusetts.--Commencement of Practice at Boscawen,
New Hampshire.--Removal to Portsmouth.--Contemporaries
in the Profession.--Increasing Practice.

CHAPTER II. xxxiii
Entrance on Public Life.--State of Parties in
1812.--Election to Congress.--Extra Session of
1813.--Foreign Relations of the Country.--Resolutions
relative to the Berlin and Milan Decrees.--Naval
Defence.--Reelected to Congress in 1814.--Peace with
England.--Projects for a National Bank.--Mr. Webster's
Course on that Question.--Battle of New Orleans.--New
Questions arising on the Return of Peace.--Course of
Prominent Men of Different Parties.--Mr. Webster's
Opinions on the Constitutionality of the Tariff
Policy.--The Resolution to restore Specie Payments
moved by Mr. Webster.--Removal to Boston.

CHAPTER III. xlviii
Professional Character particularly in Reference to
Constitutional Law.--The Dartmouth College Case argued
at Washington in 1818.--Mr. Ticknor's Description of
that Argument.--The Case of Gibbons and Ogden in
1824.--Mr. Justice Wayne's Allusion to that Case in
1847.--The Case of Ogden and Saunders in 1827.--The
Case of the Proprietors of the Charles River
Bridge.--The Alabama Bank Case.--The Case relative to
the Boundary between Massachusetts and Rhode
Island.--The Girard Will Case.--The Case of the
Constitution of Rhode Island.--General Remarks on Mr.
Webster's Practice in the Supreme Court of the United
States.--Practice in the State Courts.--The Case of
Goodridge,--and the Case of Knapp.

CHAPTER IV. lx
The Convention to revise the Constitution of
Massachusetts.--John Adams a Delegate.--Mr. Webster's
Share in its Proceedings.--Speeches on Oaths of Office,
Basis of Senatorial Representation, and Independence of
the Judiciary.--Centennial Anniversary at Plymouth on
the 22d of December, 1820.--Discourse delivered by Mr.
Webster.--Bunker Hill Monument, and Address by Mr.
Webster on the Laying of the Corner-Stone, 17th of
June, 1825.--Discourse on the Completion of the
Monument, 17th of June, 1843.--Simultaneous Decease of
Adams and Jefferson on the 4th of July, 1826.--Eulogy
by Mr. Webster in Faneuil Hall.--Address at the Laying
of the Corner-Stone of the New Wing of the
Capitol.--Remarks on the Patriotic Discourses of Mr.
Webster, and on the Character of his Eloquence in
Efforts of this Class.

CHAPTER V. lxxii
Election to Congress from Boston.--State of
Parties.--Meeting of the Eighteenth Congress.--Mr.
Webster's Resolution and Speech in favor of the
Greeks.--Argument in the Supreme Court in the Case of
Gibbons and Ogden.--Circumstances under which it was
made.--Speech on the Tariff Law of 1824.--A complete
Revision of the Law for the Punishment of Crimes
against the United States reported by Mr. Webster, and
enacted.--The Election of Mr. Adams as President of the
United States.--Meeting of the Nineteenth Congress, and
State of Parties.--Congress of Panama, and Mr.
Webster's Speech on that Subject.--Election as a
Senator of the United States.--Revision of the Tariff
Law by the Twentieth Congress.--Embarrassments of the
Question.--Mr. Webster's Course and Speech on this
Subject.

CHAPTER VI. lxxxvii
Election of General Jackson.--Debate on Foot's
Resolution.--Subject of the Resolution, and Objects
of its Mover.--Mr. Hayne's First Speech.--Mr.
Webster's original Participation in the Debate
unpremeditated.--His First Speech.--Reply of Mr. Hayne
with increased Asperity.--Mr. Webster's Great
Speech.--Its Threefold Object.--Description of the
Manner of Mr. Webster in the Delivery of this
Speech, from Mr. March's "Reminiscences of
Congress."--Reception of his Speech throughout the
Country.--The Dinner at New York.--Chancellor
Kent's Remarks.--Final Disposal of Foot's
Resolution.--Report of Mr. Webster's Speech.--Mr.
Healey's Painting.