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                               Daniel Webster

            A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress


                   Prepared by Manuscript Division staff
       Expanded and revised by John McDonough and Nan Thompson Ernst

                                    1997

                            Manuscript Division
                            Library of Congress

                             Washington, D.C.

                Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress
                         Manuscript Division, 2000

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Table of Contents for Daniel Webster
Collection Summary
Selected Search Terms

   * Names:
   * Subjects:
   * Occupations:

Administrative Information

   * Provenance:
   * Processing History:
   * Copyright Status:
   * Microfilm:
   * Preferred Citation:

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note
Description of Series

   * Correspondence, 1800- 1874, n.d.
   * Addition, 1812- 1900, n.d.

Container List

   * CORRESPONDENCE, 1800- 1874, n.d.
   * ADDITION, 1812- 1900, n.d.

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Collection Summary

Creator: Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852
Title: Papers of Daniel Webster 1800-1900 (bulk 1824-1852)
Size: 2,500 items; 16 containers; 4 linear feet; 8 microfilm reels
Repository: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
Abstract: Lawyer, statesman, and diplomat; U.S. representative from New
Hampshire and U.S. senator from Massachusetts. Correspondence, memoranda,
notes and drafts for speeches, legal papers, invitations, printed matter,
newspaper clippings, and other papers, chiefly dating from 1824 to 1852.
Topics include Webster's law practices and cases heard before the U.S.
Supreme Court, the Bank of the United States, diplomacy, national and state
politics, slavery, and the Compromise of 1850.

Selected Search Terms

Names:

Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848
Archer, Charles--Correspondence
Ashburton, Alexander Baring, Baron, 1774-1848--Correspondence
Badger, George Edmund, 1795-1866--Correspondence
Barnard, Daniel D. (Daniel Dewey), 1797-1861--Correspondence
Biddle, Nicholas, 1786-1844--Correspondence
Dalling and Bulwer, Henry Lytton Bulwer, Baron, 1801-1872--Correspondence
Cass, Lewis, 1782-1866--Correspondence
Choate, Rufus, 1799-1859--Correspondence
Clay, Henry, 1777-1852--Correspondence
Curtis, Charles Pelham, 1792-1864--Correspondence
Davis, John, 1787-1854--Correspondence
Ossington, John Evelyn Denison, Viscount, 1800-1873--Correspondence
Everett, Edward, 1794-1865--Correspondence
Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874
Hopkinson, Joseph, 1770-1842--Correspondence
Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845
Kent, James, 1763-1847--Correspondence
Lawrence, Abbott, 1792-1855--Correspondence
Mills, James K.--Correspondence
Parker, Isaac, 1768-1830--Correspondence
Quincy, Josiah, 1772-1864--Correspondence
Rush, Richard, 1780-1859--Correspondence
Sparks, Jared, 1789-1866--Correspondence
Spencer, Ambrose, 1765-1848--Correspondence
Stevenson, Andrew, 1784-1857--Correspondence
Tyler, John, 1790-1862
Webb, J. Watson (James Watson), 1802-1884-Correspondence
Webster, Fletcher, 1813-1862--Correspondence
Webster, Noah, 1758-1843--Correspondence
Wheaton, Henry, 1785-1848--Correspondence
Bank of the United States (1816-1836)
United States. Supreme Court

Subjects:

Compromise of 1850
Diplomacy
Freemasonry
Mexican War, 1846-1848--Public opinion
Practice of law--New Hampshire
Practice of law--Massachusetts
Presidential candidates--United States--19th century
Slavery--United States
Tariff--United States
Canada--Boundaries--United States
Latin America--Foreign relations--United States
Massachusetts--Politics and government--19th century
New Hampshire--Politics and government--19th century
United States--Boundaries--Canada
United States--Foreign relations--Latin America
United States--Politics and government--19th century

Occupations:

Diplomats
Lawyers
Representatives, U.S. Congress--New Hampshire
Senators, U.S. Congress--New Hampshire
Senators, U.S. Congress--Massachusetts
Statesmen

Administrative Information

Provenance:

The papers of Daniel Webster, lawyer, orator, congressman, senator, and
secretary of state, were assembled through gift and purchase, 1901-1984,
the largest group coming from Charles P. Greenough in 1903.

Processing History:

The papers of Daniel Webster were arranged and described in 1975.
Additional material was incorporated into the collection in 1978 and in
1997, when this register was expanded and revised.

Copyright Status:

The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Daniel Webster is
governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).

Microfilm:

A microfilm edition of part of these papers on eight reels is available
from the Library's Photoduplication Service for purchase subject to the
Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.). This microfilm
edition may also be requested on interlibrary loan through the Library's
Loan Division.

Preferred Citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following
information: container number, Daniel Webster Papers, Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note

 Date         Event

 1782 , Jan.
 18           Born, Salisbury, N.H.

 1796         Pupil, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H.

 1797         College preparatory study with Samuel Wood, Boscawen, N.H.

 1800         Delivered Independence Day address, Hanover, N.H.

 1801         Graduated, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.

 1802         Teacher, Fryeburg Academy, Fryeburg, Maine

 1804         Read law with attorney Christopher Gore, Boston, Mass.

 1805         Published anonymously An Appeal to the Old Whigs of New
              Hampshire
              Admitted to practice law, Court of Common Pleas, Boston,
              Mass.
              Established private law office, Boscawen, N.H.

 1807         Admitted as counselor, Superior Court, N.H.
              Established private law office, Portsmouth, N.H.

 1808         Married Grace Fletcher (died 1828)

 1813 - 1817  Member U.S. House of Representatives from New Hampshire

 1814         Admitted to practice law, Supreme Court of the United
              States

 1816         Moved to Boston, Mass.
              Resumed law practice

 1818         Argued Dartmouth College case before Supreme Court of the
              United States

 1821         Delegate, Massachusetts Constitutional Convention

 1823 - 1827  Member U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts

 1827 - 1841  Member U.S. Senate from Massachusetts; elected initially as
              a Federalist, then as a Whig

 1829         Married Caroline Bayard Le Roy

 1830         Webster-Hayne debate

 1832         Led National Republican effort to recharter the Second Bank
              of the United States
              Purchased Marshfield, Mass., estate

 1835         Nominated for president by Massachusetts legislature

 1841 - 1843  Secretary of state

 1842         Negotiated Treaty of Washington with Great Britain
              (Webster-Ashburton Treaty)

 1843         Instructed U.S. minister to China, Caleb Cushing, on Treaty
              of Wanghia
              Resigned from cabinet over Texas annexation issue

 1845 - 1850  Member U.S. Senate from Massachusetts

 1846         Denounced war with Mexico in Philadelphia, Pa., speech

 1850 , Mar.
 7            Speech in support of Henry Clay's Compromise resolution

 1850 - 1852  Secretary of state

 1851         Negotiated treaties of friendship, commerce, and navigation
              with Costa Rica and Peru

 1852         Unsuccessful candidate, Whig party presidential nomination
              Died, Marshfield, Mass.

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Daniel Webster (1782-1852) span the years from 1800 to 1900
with the bulk concentrated in the period 1824-1852. They include
correspondence, memoranda, notes and drafts of speeches, legal papers,
invitations, typewritten transcripts of letters, and a few newspaper
clippings and other types of printed matter. Correspondence constitutes the
bulk of the collection. Letters received predominate, but there are more
than one hundred and fifty items in the hand of Webster including letters,
retained drafts, memoranda, and notes. Invitations and typewritten
transcripts of selected letters follow the general correspondence.
Webster's correspondence principally documents his legal and political
career. Although he was the most famous orator of his time, only a few
speeches and notes are included in this collection.

Among the numerous subjects documented in the Webster Papers are cabinet
affairs of John Tyler's and Millard Fillmore's administrations, national
and state politics, controversies during John Quincy Adams's and Andrew
Jackson's administrations, tariff legislation, the Bank of the United
States, negotiations related to the Northeast Boundary Dispute, Latin
American relations, opposition to the war with Mexico, the slavery
question, the Compromise of 1850, the practice of law and cases argued
before the Supreme Court, and presidential aspirations. Webster's early
years are described in handwritten copies of fifteen lengthy letters (about
one hundred pages) written by Charles Archer to James Watson Webb, editor
of the New York Courier and Enquirer. They are filed among the
correspondence dated from August to September 1849.

Correspondents represented in the Webster Papers include Lord Ashburton
(Alexander Baring), George Edmund Badger, Daniel D. Barnard, Nicholas
Biddle, Lewis Cass, Rufus Choate, Henry Clay, Charles Pelham Curtis, Lord
Dalling and Bulwer (Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer), John Davis, Edward Everett,
Millard Fillmore, Joseph Hopkinson, James Kent, Abbott Lawrence, James K.
Mills, Viscount Ossington (John Evelyn Denison), Isaac Parker, Josiah
Quincy, Richard Rush, Jared Sparks, Ambrose Spencer, Andrew Stevenson, John
Tyler, James Watson Webb, Fletcher Webster, Noah Webster, and Henry
Wheaton.

A card index of correspondents among the general correspondence and
invitations is available for consultation in the Manuscript Division
Reading Room. It is also included in the Library's microfilm edition of the
papers.

Approximately seven hundred typewritten transcripts, primarily of Webster's
correspondence held by the New Hampshire Historical Society, are placed at
the end of the Correspondence series. They were the gift of Charles
Halstead Van Tyne who published The Letters of Daniel Webster in 1902. A
card index of this transcribed correspondence is available in the
Manuscript Division Reading Room. The transcripts and index have not been
microfilmed.

An Addition series of the Webster Papers was created in 1978 and expanded
in 1997. It consists of original material acquired by the Library since
1968 and miscellaneous items which were not included in the Library's
microfilm edition of 1967, such as facsimiles, copies of letters, an
engraving, and printed matter. The original material consists of
approximately fifteen items of correspondence, principally by Webster, and
notes for his speech of March 7, 1850, on the Compromise of 1850.

Also available for consultation in the Manuscript Division Reading Room is
a comprehensive microfilm edition reproducing about seventeen thousand
Webster and Webster related manuscripts copied from collections in scores
of repositories in the United States and abroad. The microfilm has four
components: correspondence, business papers, congressional documents, and
State Department records. It is the product of a collaboration between the
Dartmouth College Library and University Microfilms. An accompanying Guide
and Index to the Microfilm (1971) was edited by Charles M. Wiltse.

Description of Series

 Box    Reel    Series

 BOX
 1-16   Correspondence, 1800 - 1874 , n.d.
 REEL
 1-8

        Letters to Webster and letters by and about him.

        Arranged in groups as general correspondence, invitations, and
        selected transcripts and chronologically therein. A card index is
        available on reel 8 and in the Manuscript Division Reading Room.

 BOX 16
 (NOT   Addition, 1812 - 1900 , n.d.
 FILMED)

        Correspondence, notes for a speech, and miscellaneous facsimiles
        and copies of letters, speeches, printed matter, and engraved
        portraits.

        Organized alphabetically by type of material and chronologically
        therein.

Container List

 Box    Reel   Contents

        CORRESPONDENCE, 1800 - 1874 , n.d.

        Microfilm edition available. Shelf no. 13,857.
 BOX 1 REEL 1  General
                        18 Mar. 1804-13 June 1825
 BOX 2                  17 July 1825-28 Dec. 1829
 BOX 3 REEL 2           2 Jan. 1830-27 Mar. 1833
 BOX 4                  1 Apr. 1833-6 June 1836
 BOX 5 REEL 3           11 June 1836-12 Mar. 1841
 BOX 6                  15 Mar. 1841-6 June 1842
 BOX 7 REEL 4           9 June 1842-13 Sept. 1845
 BOX 8                  16 Sept. 1845-5 June 1849
 BOX 9 REEL 5           27 June 1849-25 Sept. 1850
 BOX 10                 27 Sept. 1850-6 Aug. 1851
 BOX 11 REEL 6          17 Aug. 1851-19 July 1852
 BOX 12                 24 July 1852-28 July 1874
                        Undated
 BOX 13 REEL 7          Undated
 BOX 14        Invitations, 1830-1852
 REEL 8        Card index to Containers 1-14

               Originals available in Manuscript Division Reading Room.
 BOX 15 (NOT
 FILMED)       Typewritten transcripts of selected letters
                        1800-1860
                        (7 folders)
 BOX 16                 Undated

        ADDITION, 1812 - 1900 , n.d.

 BOX 16        Correspondence, 1812-1852
               Miscellany, 1826-1883, n.d.
               Notes for speech on Compromise of 1850, 7 Mar. 1850, with
               cover letter, 1900