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• 19th Century American Painting

• Daniel Webster , circa 1850
• oil on canvas
• 34 in. x 27 in. (86.36 cm x 68.58 cm)

• Unknown American
• American

• Museum Purchase: Friends Fund, 1985.17

• On View

The distinguished lawyer, orator, and statesman Daniel Webster was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire in 1782.  He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1801 when he commenced his study of law. He began a clerkship in Boston in 1804 and in 1807 moved to Portsmouth where he established a law practice. He quickly climbed to the pinnacle of his profession, and in a number of landmark cases his interpretation of the law further defined the limits of constitutional democracy. In 1812 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from New Hampshire on the Federalist ticket. Between 1823 and 1827 he served again as a member of Congress, this time from Massachusetts, and in 1827 he was elected U.S. Senator. He went on to serve as Secretary of State under three presidents. In April of 1842 Webster negotiated with Lord Ashburton the settlement of a portion of Maine and New Hampshire’s border with Canada. On March 7, 1850, around the time that this portrait was completed, Webster delivered a speech in the Senate supporting Henry Clay’s Compromise of 1850, including the Fugitive Slave Law, which created much disaffection among New England abolitionists.

This portrait depicts Webster as a decisive and fiercely principled individual. His deep-set fiery eyes, ponderous bearing, and dark features convey a resolute nature and allude to his powerful and commanding stature as a statesman.