Webster, Daniel. Seventh of March Speech

In the three-hour address on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Webster defends the Compromise of 1850 and Fugitive Slave Act as necessary to preserving the union. His position generates a mixed reaction in Boston. Hundreds of notable businessmen sign a petition praising Webster. But John Quincy Adams calls him a traitor to the cause of humanity, and Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, “There never was an event half so painful to Boston.” Mary Caroline Crawford later marks the moment as “the swan-song of the Whig Party” in Massachusetts and Webster is subsequently defeated for reelection. But his willingness to take such an unpopular stand later leads to his inclusion in John F. Kennedy’s book Profiles in Courage.