Senator Daniel Webster

Senator Daniel Webster. Civil War to Civil Rights.

"Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable," , Senator Daniel Webster, January 1830

, Senator Daniel Webster, eloquent advocate for the preservation of the Union and a political giant in pre-Civil War America, lived and worked in buildings that occupied part of the empty space near this sign. They were similar to the two surviving pre-Civil War structures immediately to the right of the space. In the mid-19th century, this was a fashionable neighborhood of fine homes and magnificent churches within easy walking distance to the Capitol and near Washington’s City Hall., Webster put his unmatched oratorical skills to work in support of the Compromise of 1850–a series of Congressional acts that delayed the fracture of the Union for about ten years. The compromise ended the slave trade in District of Columbia, but at the same time strengthened the fugitive slave law that compelled citizens to help capture and return runaway African American slaves., In 1850, at 69 years of age and near the end of his life, Webster made his last great speech on the floor of the Senate in defense of the Union. The galleries were crowded with spectators. Spirited debates in Congress were a high point in the city’s political and social life. Since Webster had his office in his home, as was the custom of the day, it is all but certain that he developed his arguments here. , This neighborhood was home to many dignitaries, including Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, General and Mrs. John Fremont, Vice President John C. Calhoun, and Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase. President Lincoln attended the wedding of Kate Chase in the family home at Sixth and D Streets, now demolished. Today’s Recorder of Deeds building is located nearby at the corner of Sixth and D Streets. In the 1880s, the distinguished African American, Frederick Douglass held the prestigious position of recorder.