U. S. Senate Website Remembers Daniel Webster’s Courageous Stand
This week the official website of the United States Senate includes a noteworthy event in the career of Daniel Webster. On July 22, 1850, Webster ended his nineteen-year career as a United States Senator for Massachusetts to accept an appointment as United States Secretary of State. There is a section of the Senate website, www.senate.gov, called “This Week in Senate History” which describes Webster’s decision to leave the Senate months after his courageous stand in support of one of Henry Clay’s proposals for compromise legislation before the Senate. Clay’s proposal was a continuing effort to maintain the union of the United States at a very turbulent time in our country’s history on the issue of slavery. At the time, Webster’s Massachusetts’ constituents were outraged at his alleged betrayal.
The story is spelled out in greater detail on the Senate website and was such a historical display of political courage that it became a chapter in the then Senator John F. Kennedy’s well known book, “Profiles In Courage”.
A description of some of Webster’s accomplishments and a copy of the deed to his Marshfield estate is included in the Plymouth County Notable Land Records Collection on this website.
