Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster (1782-1852) was born on January 18, 1782, in Salisbury, New Hampshire. At the age of fourteen, he would attend Phillips Exeter Academy, before entering Dartmouth College. He would graduate from Dartmouth in 1801 and would then commence the study of the law. He would be admitted to the bar in 1805, and would establish a law practice in Boscawen, New Hampshire, which he would later relocate to Portsmouth. Webster’s entrance into public life began in 1813. Running in opposition to the War of 1812, Webster would be elected to the House of Representatives as a Federalist. He would remain there until 1817, when he declined re-election. Webster would have another successful run at Congress in 1822, again for the Federalists, but now as a representative for Massachusetts. With the decline of the Federalists, he would eventually join the National-Republicans around 1827. In 1827, Webster would be elected to the United States Senate, and would be re-elected as a Whig in 1833, and then again in 1839. Webster would also run unsuccessfully as the Whig presidential candidate in 1836. He would later be appointed as Secretary of State in the administrations of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler. In 1845, Webster would again be elected as a Whig for the Senate. He would remain there until 1850, at which time he became the Secretary of State under Millard Fillmore.
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Webster originally began as a free trader, and as early as 1808, Webster had produced the pamphlet, Considerations on the Embargo Laws, which was a critique of Jefferson’s non-importation acts. He would remain a free trader for his first several years of Congress where he spoke ably in support of free trade. The most notable of his free trade speeches was one delivered to Congress in April of 1824. By 1828, however, Webster had converted to protectionism and would eventually become one of its most reliable advocates. Webster’s first speech in favor of protection was his 1828 address concerning the Tariff of Abominations. His more significant Congressional speeches would come later. These include his speech entitled General Effects of Protection, which was delivered on March 3, 1840, and his speech against the Walker Tariff delivered on July 25 and 27, 1846, which was subsequently titled The Tariff. Webster also gave numerous addresses outside on the matter of protection. Some of the more significant of these include his speech at the 1843 Andover Whig Convention, and his 1844 speech at the Whig Convention in Philadelphia. In addition to these, Webster would also give a valuable lecture on political economy to the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in 1836, which enunciated the view that invention exhibits a tendency towards diffusion which benefits society as a whole, a view that would become a staple of American Protectionist thought. Daniel Webster would continue to serve as Fillmore’s Secretary of State until his death on October 24, 1854.