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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.
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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
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