Autographs
DANIEL WEBSTER Autograph Letter and Engraved Print
DANIEL WEBSTER, (1782-1852). Leading American Statesman during the nation's Antebellum Period, famous Orator and Whig Party Leader, Secretary of State, Campaigned Three Times for President of the United States.
April 22, (1829)-Dated Autograph Letter Signed “D. Webster”, 1 page, measuring approximately 7.25” x 9” (by sight), framed with an engraved portrait of Webster to 21.75” x 16.25”, the modern frame has trivial nicks to the corners.

Webster writes a colleague, R. Peters Jr., regarding the Sailors Snug Harbor case (Ingliss v. Trustees). Webster represented John Ingliss, the Bishop of Nova Scotia, son of Charles Ingliss, former Rector of Trinity Church in Manhattan who, after the Revolution, fled to Nova Scotia to become the first Colonial Bishop of the Church of England. Bishop John Ingliss sought to overturn a will that would allow the Trustees to relocate a Seaman’s Hospital (the Sailors Snug Harbor) to central Manhattan and to claim a portion of the inheritance through a common ancestor. The trial focused on Loyalist rights in our still young country. Webster was opposed by William Wirt, who was Attorney General under Madison and Monroe, as well as prosecutor at Aaron Burr’s treason trail. Also on the Trustee’s team was Martin Van Buren, future President. The appeal was heard by Chief Justice John Marshall, who decided against Webster. Webster was upset at the verdict and wrote to his son Ezekiel that he “had made a greater exertion” in this case than any since his first appearance before the Supreme Court ten years earlier and added it was unlikely he would make such an effort again.
While Daniel Webster was vilified by Northern Abolitionists for his support of the Compromise of 1850, he was strongly supported by a faction of Pro-Union Whigs and although denied the Whig nomination at the convention, Webster was later persuaded to run as an independent candidate. He ran a strong race until September of 1852 when ill health forced him to retire to his family home in Massachusetts where he died just 2 weeks before the election. His name remained on the ballot in Georgia and Massachusetts and he still managed to poll nearly seven thousand votes.