Lawyer, member of Congress, orator, and statesman Daniel Webster, an 1801 graduate of Dartmouth, never served as the College’s president. But he is remembered as one of the College’s great alumni, primarily for his defense of Dartmouth in the famous Dartmouth College Case of 1819.
Webster was born in Salisbury, NH, in 1782, and entered Dartmouth in 1797. It was at the College that he developed his oratorical skills, making his first speech in Hanover on Independence Day, 1800. Upon graduation, he studied law and opened his first practice in 1805 in Boscawen, NH.
In 1812 he began his political career, elected to the US House of Representatives as a Federalist from New Hampshire as a result of his opposition to the War of 1812.
After moving to Boston in 1816, Webster argued his first case before the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Dartmouth College v. Woodward, also known as the “Dartmouth College Case.” In 1818 the newly elected governor of New Hampshire, William Plumer, sought to take control of the college's charter from its (Federalist) trustees in order to replace the board with elected (Republican) members. As a result of Webster’s argument, Chief Justice John Marshall handed down the decision that Dartmouth was a private rather than public entity and, therefore, the state of New Hampshire did not have regulatory power over it. This is considered an important historical decision as it limits the control a state government may have over a corporate charter. It was in his peroration of the case that Webster spoke his oft-quoted (and oft-paraphrased) line “It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college. And yet, there are those who love it!”
After the Dartmouth College Case, Webster was elected to the U.S. Senate representing Massachusettts; his later career also included terms as Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, and Millard Fillmore. Webster died at his home in Marshfield, MA, in 1852.
Webster's brother, Ezekiel, was an 1804 graduate of Dartmouth and also was a lawyer. He served as a trustee of the College from 1819-29.
For more on Daniel Webster, visit Dartmouth’s Daniel Webster web site.
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