Webster, Daniel

A Whig political leader and diplomat of the nineteenth century. Webster is remembered for his speaking ability and for his service as a senator from Massachusetts through most of the 1830s and 1840s. Webster defended national unity in the Senate against advocates of states' rights such as John C. Calhoun . In one debate, he spoke the famous words, “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!” He opposed the Mexican War and the admission of Texas as a slave state but supported the Compromise of 1850 , including the Fugitive Slave Act . A member of the Whig party , he ran for president three times but was never nominated.