"There is strong evidence that DW said something along the lines of this reported peroration. First, there is the similarity in content between the opening paragraph of the peroration and the last paragraphs of his draft argument. Second, he had used the assassination of Caesar imagery in his short Exeter, New Hampshire argument. It had provoked an emotional response in his audience then, and he could count on it to produce a similar response before the Supreme Court. Third, there are at least two contemporary descriptions of the effect of DW's conclusion, see pp. 172-175 below. See also Quarterly Journal of Speech, 23 (1937): 636-642; John C. Sterling, Daniel Webster and a Small College (Hanover, N.H., 1965); Charles M. Wiltse, "Webster and a Small College," Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, 66 (1974): 14-15."
From:
Author: Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852.
Title: The papers of Daniel Webster. Charles M. Wiltse, editor;
Harold D. Moser, associate editor.
Imprint: Hanover, N.H., Published for Dartmouth College by the
University Press of New England [c1974-
Notes: Series Two. Legal Papers
Volume 3. The Federal Practice
Part 1
(Andrew J. King, Editor)
Page: [154]
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