THE GREAT AMERICAN ORATOR WEBSTER (Daniel, 1782-1852, American Lawyer and Statesman)

Autograph letter signed to John Ramsay M'Culloch, (1789-1864, the political economist), thanking him "for the copy of your Essay, which I shall read on the passage home. If I should notice any mistakes or errors, into which you may have been led, in respect to the system of Banking in the U States, I may trouble you with a letter .... No one believes more sincerely than I do, in the truth & importance of all the general principles, which I understand you to maintain. I am, with great regard", 2 sides 8vo., Brunswick Hotel, [London], 19th November with 1 inch stub of blank conjugate leaf, into which extends a note in an old neat hand below the signature "d. October 24th 1852"

When Webster was first in Congress, in 1812, he attacked the various tariff bills of the period, but by 1828 had become an aggressive champion of protection. From 1819 he appeared for the Bank of the United States in important constitutional cases. In a famous debate of 1830 he declared that the Union, in origin, preceded the States, with its own range of powers, of which the Supreme Court was the only proper arbiter. Nullification by individual states could result only in violence and civil war. In these terms he continued to support the Bank in the Senate, both on principle and as a client. He was re-elected Senator in 1839 from Massachusetts, and was Secretary of State 1840-1843 and 1850-1852, the post in which he achieved the greatest satisfaction for his talents. In 1842 he successfully concluded the Webster-Ashburton treaty on the boundary of Maine with Canada.
Webster's orations of 1820, commemorating the Pilgrim Fathers, and of 1825, at the laying of the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill monument, are still famous.
When 'The Scotsman' was founded in 1817, M'Culloch contributed to an early number, with the result that he was made its editor 1818-1820. He also contributed for many years to the Edinburgh Review. He published the 'Principles of Political Economy', 1825, of which he was Professor at London University, 1828-1832. From 1838 he was comptroller of the Stationery Office.

Item Date:  1839

Stock No:  16453      £350

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