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Overview
In this monumental new biography, Robert V. Remini gives us a full life of Webster from his birth, early schooling, and rapid rise as a lawyer and politician in New Hampshire to his equally successful career in Massachusetts where he moved in 1816. Remini treats both the man and his time as they tangle in issues such as westward expansion, growth of democracy, market revolution, slavery and abolitionism, the National Bank, and tariff issues. Webster's famous speeches are fully discussed as are his relations with the other two of the "great triumvirate," Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. Throughout, Remini pays close attention to Webster's personal life - perhaps more than Webster would have liked - his relationships with family and friends, and his murky financial dealings with men of wealth and influence.Synopsis
In this monumental new biography, Robert V. Remini gives us a full life of Webster from his birth, early schooling, and rapid rise as a lawyer and politician in New Hampshire to his equally successful career in Massachusetts where he moved in 1816. Remini treats both the man and his time as they tangle in issues such as westward expansion, growth of democracy, market revolution, slavery and abolitionism, the National Bank, and tariff issues. Webster's famous speeches are fully discussed as are his relations with the other two of the "great triumvirate," Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. Throughout, Remini pays close attention to Webster's personal life - perhaps more than Webster would have liked - his relationships with family and friends, and his murky financial dealings with men of wealth and influence.
Publishers Weekly
In 1846, an Alabama congressman lashed into Webster on the House floor as a man of "two characters... as his interests or necessities demand`the God-like Daniel,' and `Black Dan!' " Remini, biographer of Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson, presents both Websters here, the politician of self-serving laxity in ethics and the spellbinding preacher of American national identity. The last influential Federalist in the tradition of the Founding Fathers, he watched a succession of lesser men occupy the White House. Revered but distrusted, Webster was, to Remini, the victim of his duality. In an era when speech-making was a national entertainment, he held crowds for hours, and his words, in print, became school texts. Yet he would never accept second place on a national ticket and watched two mediocre vice presidents (Tyler and Fillmore) succeed inferior presidents (Harrison and Taylor). Remini conjures up a man and statesman seemingly bigger than life who, especially when in debate with such senatorial peers as Clay and Calhoun, was a gladiator with words and ideas. Shortly before he died in 1852 at age 70, he asked an audience to applaud if it thought he had lived his life well. People "applauded rapturously." Remini remains admiring, but the thoroughness of his coverage requires withholding the rapture. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Oct.)
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
In 1846, an Alabama congressman lashed into Webster on the House floor as a man of "two characters... as his interests or necessities demand`the God-like Daniel,' and `Black Dan!' " Remini, biographer of Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson, presents both Websters here, the politician of self-serving laxity in ethics and the spellbinding preacher of American national identity. The last influential Federalist in the tradition of the Founding Fathers, he watched a succession of lesser men occupy the White House. Revered but distrusted, Webster was, to Remini, the victim of his duality. In an era when speech-making was a national entertainment, he held crowds for hours, and his words, in print, became school texts. Yet he would never accept second place on a national ticket and watched two mediocre vice presidents (Tyler and Fillmore) succeed inferior presidents (Harrison and Taylor). Remini conjures up a man and statesman seemingly bigger than life who, especially when in debate with such senatorial peers as Clay and Calhoun, was a gladiator with words and ideas. Shortly before he died in 1852 at age 70, he asked an audience to applaud if it thought he had lived his life well. People "applauded rapturously." Remini remains admiring, but the thoroughness of his coverage requires withholding the rapture. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Oct.)Kirkus Reviews
This massive biography leaves no stone unturned in portraying a familiar but little-studied antebellum figure, considered the young country's best orator.Veteran historian Remini (Henry Clay, 1991; The Life of Andrew Jackson, 1988; etc.) maintains a delicate balance between Webster's (1782-1852) two personas: "the Godlike Daniel," so called for his brilliant public addresses and eulogies of heroes of the American Revolution, and "Black Dan," a tag referring not only to his dark appearance but to his ruthless politicking and ferocious temper. Much of the study of Webster's public life is organized around the famous speeches that defined and shaped his career, including his dual eulogy of presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and his congressional address appealing for early recognition of Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire, which positioned the congressman and senator for later appointments as secretary of state. Black Dan is more evident in Remini's depiction of the statesman's private life. Besides being alcoholic, Webster had the terrible misfortune of outliving four of his five children, launching three abortive and embarrassing attempts to gain the presidency, and suffering endless financial problems. Remini quite deftly shows why he was known as "the Great Expounder and Defender of the Constitution," depicting Webster as one of the earliest strict constructionists, a man who felt that the Constitution was the defining American document and that the preservation of the Union took precedence over all other policy considerations. Unfortunately, it is here that Webster's political clout was eventually devalued, as he refused to combat the Fugitive Slave Act and chose to accept House Speaker Henry Clay's Missouri Compromise, which perpetuated slavery and did nothing but guarantee the outbreak of war. Remini never properly indicts Webster for this moral lapse, nor does he explain why constitutional amendments to reverse the injustice were not considered. Though Remini's obvious admiration for Webster may sometimes cloud his view, a more complete and engrossing biography could not be produced.