Ornately penned manuscript souvenir quotation from "Webster's reply to Hayne, in U.S. Senate," one page, 7.5 x 8.75, signed at the conclusion in ink, "Dan'l Webster." The quote, originating from the most famous speech ever given in the United States Senate, reads, in full: "I shall enter on no encomium upon Massachusetts; she needs none. There she is. Behold her, and judge for yourselves. There is her history; the world knows it by heart. The past, at least, is secure. There is Boston, and Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker Hill; and there they will remain for ever. The bones of her sons, falling in the great struggle for Independence, now lie mingled with the soil of every State from New England to Georgia; and there they will lie for ever. And Sir, where American Liberty raised its first voice, and where its youth was nurtured and sustained, there it still lives, in the strength of its manhood, and full of its original spirit. If discord and disunion shall wound it, if party strife and blind ambition shall hawk at and tear it, if folly and madness, if uneasiness under salutary and necessary restraint, shall succeed in separating it from that Union, by which alone its existence is made sure, it will stand, in the end, by the side of that cradle in which its infancy was rocked; over the friends who gather round it; and it will fall at last, if fall it must, amidst the proudest monuments of its own glory, and on the very spot of its origin." In fine condition.
This quotation comes from Daniel Webster's second reply in the 'Hayne-Webster Debate,' an unplanned series of speeches in the Senate in which Robert Hayne of South Carolina and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts went back and forth over the meaning of the United States Constitution. Hayne interpreted the Constitution as little more than a treaty between sovereign states, while Webster expressed the concept of the United States as one nation, describing the government as 'made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.'
The momentous debate began on January 18, 1830, over the topic of protectionist tariffs and the proposed suspension of western land sales. Hayne began, contending that states, not the federal government, should control their lands and that states should have the right to set aside certain federal laws if they wished. Webster responded by saying that to sell lands cheaper would simply put them in the hands of speculators, and might well open them to slavery. He challenged the South's apparent willingness to subvert the Union for regional economic gain. In doing so, he broadened the debate beyond land, tariffs, and slavery to a consideration of the very nature of the federal republic. Maintaining that the North had always been the West's ally, Webster successfully shifted the debate to one of states' rights versus national power.
When Hayne argued the following week that a state had the right to openly defy an act of Congress, Webster returned on January 26 and 27 with his immortal 'Second Reply to Hayne,' ending with perhaps the most famous quote in U.S. Senate history, one that electrified his audience: 'Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!' Overnight, the Massachusetts senator became a major national political figure—the speech both made his reputation and rallied the north behind his plea for national unity.
This excerpt from the speech was written down by Adam J. Glossbrenner, who was Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives and later James Buchanan's private secretary. He collected autographs and had a passion for history, and was in a position to combine these two pursuits to great effect: he had a practice of writing down key passages from important speeches, and then having the figures who had given the speeches sign them for him. Webster's second reply to Hayne caught his eye, and he wrote down a significant passage from the speech relating to unity over disunity, which Webster kindly autographed. A supremely desirable, significant piece of American history.
This item is Pre-Certified by PSA/DNA
Buy a third-party letter of authenticity for
$75.00
*This item has been pre-certified by a trusted third-party authentication service, and by placing a bid on this item, you agree to accept the opinion of this authentication service. If you wish to have an opinion rendered by a different authenticator of your choosing, you must do so prior to your placing of any bid. RR Auction is not responsible for differing opinions submitted 30 days after the date of the sale.
