Blog 5, 6/11: Federalism

In  Daniel Webster’s speech, The Seventh of March, he states: “The South, upon the other side, having been accustomed to this relation between two races all their lives, from their birth, having been taught, in general to treat subjects of this bondage with care and kindness and I believe, in general feeling great kindness for them,  have not taken the view of the subject which I have mentioned.”

In the Seventh of March Speech Webster endorsed one of the most controversial acts of The Compromise of 1850, The Fugitive Slave Act. In the quote above, Webster rationalized the South’s perspective on slavery. According to Webster, the relationship of slave to master between blacks and whites is the only way of life in the south, ingrained in their culture since birth, so it is unfathomable to them to see life any other way. He tries to disguise the true dynamic of the slave to master relationship, referring to it as caring and kind.

The guise under which this speech is presented is representative of Daniel Webster. He is trying to hide the ugly truth of slavery with dramatics and “romanticism”, choosing “union over liberty.” This whole speech was a load of excrement dressed up with pretty rhetoric. He is rightfully referred to as quasi-official rhapsodists of American Nationalism by Richard Hofstadter.