Select Speeches of Daniel Webster, 1817-1845

by Daniel Webster

Within a year after the defence of the Kennistons, Mr. Webster was called upon to defend his Alma Mater against the acts of the Legislature of his native State.

The case was one of the most interesting ever argued before the Supreme Court of the United States, because there were involved in it certain constitutional questions which had never been tested. "Mr. Webster by his management of this case," says Edward Everett, "took the lead in establishing what might almost be called a new school of constitutional law." Not until within a few years has the complete history of the case been accessible. In 1879, a volume of "Dartmouth College Causes" was published by Mr. John M. Shirley, and in it we have, for the first time, a clear statement of all the points relating to the origin and development of the case.

Dartmouth College was originally a charity school, and was founded by Eleazor Wheelock at Lebanon, Connecticut, in 1754. Afterwards private subscriptions were solicited in England, and the Earl of Dartmouth was a large donor and became one of the trustees. The site was soon moved to Hanover, New Hampshire, where large grants of land had been made by the proprietors. It was chartered by the Crown in 1769, and was created a perpetual corporation, with Dr. Wheelock as founder and President; he was empowered to name his own successor subject to the approval of the trustees, to whom was given power to fill vacancies in their own body and to make laws for the College subject to the Crown.

It seems that in his early days Dr. Wheelock had a controversy on religious matters with Dr. Bellamy. These men were graduates of Yale; the former was a Presbyterian, and the latter a Congregationalist. This religious war was carried on by the successors of these men, the son of Dr. Wheelock, and President of the College, and a pupil of Dr. Bellamy, who had been elected a trustee; it soon, however, became a political contest between factions of the trustees, one of which objected to what it called the "family dynasty." In 1809 this faction became a majority and opposed the other so vigorously that in 1815 the Wheelock party set forth its case in a lengthy pamphlet. Much ink was shed upon both sides as a result. Wheelock then sent a memorial to the Legislature charging the trustees with violation of trust and religious intolerance, and prayed for an investigation by a committee of the Legislature. The trustees were Federalists and Congregationalists, the ruling power in State and Church. Mr. Mason, Mr. Webster's old antagonist at the New Hampshire bar, was secured as counsel for the trustees. The Wheelock party made advances to Mr. Webster, but he saw that the case was fast assuming a political tone, and he declined the offer. Contrary to Mr. Mason's advice, the trustees removed President Wheelock, and appointed Rev. Francis Brown in his place. As a result all the Democrats and all religious orders, other than the Congregational, united against the trustees--and the political die was cast.

At the next election the Democrats carried the State, and the Governor in his message took occasion to declare against the trustees. The Legislature, in June, 1816, passed an act to reorganize the College, and under this law the new trustees were chosen; thus the College became a State institution. Woodward, the Secretary of the old board, had been removed, and became the Secretary of the newly constituted board. Suit was brought against him by the old board, for the College seal and other property, and the case in charge of Mr. Mason and Judge Smith came up for trial in May, 1817; it was argued and then went over to the September term of the same year at Exeter. It was at this stage of the proceedings that Mr. Webster joined the counsel for the College. He made the closing argument of such force and pathos as to draw tears from the crowd in the court-room. The decision was against the College.

In Mr. Mason's brief we find that there were three points made against the Acts of the Legislature: (1) that they were not within the power of that body; (2) that they violated the Constitution of New Hampshire; and (3) that they violated the Constitution of the United States, or the right of private contracts. The third point was not, however, pressed by the counsel, and was not considered as very important; they based their case mostly upon the first point: that the College was founded by private parties, for special purposes, and that any quarrel of the trustees was a question for the courts to settle, and not for the Legislature. When it was decided against them, they removed the case to the Supreme Court of the United States on this one point, that the acts impaired the obligation of contracts. The friends of the College now desired Mr. Webster to take entire charge of the case; he consented, and selected as his assistant, Mr. Hopkinson, of Philadelphia. Mr. Holmes of Maine and Mr. Wirt conducted the defence.

The case was heard on March 10, 1818, and was opened by Mr. Webster. With the notes and minutes of the previous counsel Mr. Webster was familiar, and he said that the credit of the legal points and theories he set forth was due to them; he was only the arranger and reciter of what they had prepared. Mr. Webster had a remarkable power of selecting and using the material of other men, but he was always ready to give them the credit due.

With a skill and judgment which Chief Justice Marshall said he never saw equalled, Mr. Webster outlined the question at issue, and by his marvellous adroitness in arranging, and clearness in presenting the facts, together with that wealth of legal and historical illustration with which he was always so well endowed, he seemed to carry with him every man in the court-room. Such was the ease, grace, and fascination of his argument, that Justice Story, who sat, pen in hand, to take notes, was completely absorbed and forgot his pen and paper.

[1.] P. 58, l. 15. I. Here, the argument being ended, Mr. Webster stood still for some time before the court, while every eye was fixed upon him, and then addressing the Chief Justice, he proceeded with that noble peroration which has become one of the masterpieces of eloquence, and which is an expansion of the closing argument which he delivered at the previous trial in New Hampshire. This does not appear in the printed argument; I have added it from the report of Dr. Goodrich.

[2.] P. 59, l. 5. 1. I give the beautiful description which Dr. Goodrich wrote to Mr. Choate in 1853. "Here the feelings, which he had thus far succeeded in keeping down, broke forth. His lips quivered; his firm cheeks trembled with emotion; his eyes were filled with tears; his voice choked, and he seemed struggling to the utmost simply to gain that mastery over himself which might save him from an unmanly burst of feeling. I will not attempt to give you the few broken words of tenderness in which he went on to speak of his attachment for the college. The whole seemed to be mingled throughout with recollections of father, mother, brother, and all the privations and trials through which he had made his way into life. Every one saw that it was wholly unpremeditated, a pressure on his heart, which sought relief in words and tears." The court-room during these two or three minutes presented an extraordinary spectacle. Chief Justice Marshall, with his tall and gaunt figure, bent over as if to catch the slightest whisper, the deep furrows of his cheek expanded with emotion, and his eyes suffused with tears; Mr. Justice Washington at his side, with his small and emaciated frame, and countenance more like marble than I ever saw on any other human being--leaning forward with an eager troubled look; and the remainder of the Court at the two extremities, pressing, as it were, toward a single point, while the audience below were wrapping themselves around in closer folds beneath the bench, to catch each look and every feature of the speaker's face. If a painter could give us the scene on canvas,--those forms and countenances, and Daniel Webster as he there stood in their midst,--it would be one of the most touching pictures in the history of eloquence. One thing it taught me, that the pathetic depends not merely on the words uttered, but still more on the estimate we put upon him who utters them. There was not one among the strong-minded men of that assembly who could think it unmanly to weep, when he saw standing before him the man who had made such an argument, melted into the tenderness of a child. Mr. Webster had now recovered his composure, and, fixing his keen eye on the Chief Justice, in that deep tone with which he sometimes thrilled the heart of an audience, continued."