One
of the five greatest Senators in U.S. history, the State of New
Hampshire placed his statue in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall.
His career spanned almost four decades, serving as Secretary of State
for Presidents William Harrison, John Tyler and Millard Fillmore.
His name was Daniel Webster, born JANUARY 18, 1782.
From a New Hampshire farm, he attended Dartmouth College and became the highest paid attorney of his day.
He fought the slave trade and negotiated the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, which set the nation's Northeast boundary.
When South Carolina threatened nullification, he stated:
"Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!"
When asked what the most profound thought was that ever passed through his mind, Daniel Webster responded:
"My accountability to God."
Daniel Webster warned in his 4th of July Oration, Fryeburg, Maine, 1802:
"We live under the only government that ever existed which was framed by...deliberate consultations of the people.
Miracles do not cluster. That which has happened but once in 6,000 years cannot be expected to happen often.
Such a government, once gone, might leave a void, to be filled, for ages, with revolution and tumult, riot and despotism."
Addressing the New York Historical Society, 1852, Daniel Webster stated:
"If we and our posterity...live always in the fear of God and shall
respect His Commandments...we may have the highest hopes of the future
fortunes of our country....
But if we...neglect religious instruction and authority; violate the
rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and
recklessly destroy the constitution which holds us together,
no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity."
No comments:
Post a Comment