[edit] Today's featured article
|
|
Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman during the nation's antebellum era. Webster first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests. His increasingly nationalistic views and the effectiveness with which he articulated them led Webster to become one of the most famous orators and influential Whig leaders of the Second Party System. As an attorney he served as legal counsel in several cases that established important constitutional precedents that bolstered the authority of the Federal government. As Secretary of State, Webster negotiated the Webster-Ashburton Treaty that established the definitive Eastern border between the United States and Canada. Primarily recognized for his Senate tenure, Webster was a key figure in the institution's "Golden Age". So well known was his skill as a Senator throughout this period that Webster became a third of what was and still is known today as the "Great Triumvirate", with his colleagues Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. His "Reply to Haynes" (1830) was generally regarded as "the most eloquent speech ever delivered in Congress." Though Webster made three bids he never achieved the Presidency, his final attempt failing in part because of his compromises. Like his attempts at gaining the White House, Webster's efforts at steering the nation away from civil war toward a definite peace would ultimately prove futile. (more...)
Recently featured: Germany – The Turk – Medieval cuisine
|
[edit] Did you know...
|
|
From Wikipedia's newest articles:
- ...that Jaina Island, a Maya necropolis, contains over 20,000 burials, with every one excavated having one or more ceramic figurines (example pictured)?
- ...that the LST-1-class tank landing ship USS Benzie County was featured in a World War II-era Camel cigarettes advertisement?
- ...that the 1903 Vagabond Hurricane is the most recent Atlantic hurricane to strike the state of New Jersey, and briefly threatened the life of President Theodore Roosevelt?
- ...that the large reredos above the altar in St. Martin's Church in Brighton, England, includes 20 pictures and 69 statues, all of which were carved in Oberammergau, Germany?
- ...that 8-year-old Sylvia Mendez played an instrumental role in the 1946 Mendez v. Westminster case, which successfully ended de jure segregation in California schools?
- ...that architecture critics praised the Art Deco Ghostbusters Building, in New York City, when it opened in 1929?
|
|
|
