born Jan. 18, 1782, Salisbury, N.H., U.S.
died Oct. 24, 1852, Marshfield, Mass.
U.S. lawyer and politician.
He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1813–17). After moving to Boston (1816), he built a prosperous law practice and represented Massachusetts in the House (1823–27). He argued several precedent-setting cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including the Dartmouth College case , McCulloch v. Maryland , and Gibbons v. Ogden . Elected to the U.S. Senate (1827–41, 1845–50), he became famous as an orator for his speeches supporting the Union and opposing the nullification movement and its advocates, Robert Y. Hayne . As U.S. secretary of state (1841–43, 1850–52) he negotiated the {{link=Webster-Ashburton Treaty">Webster-Ashburton Treaty to settle the Canada-Maine border dispute.