Today in Black History: March 7th
1850 – Sen. Daniel Webster Delivers “Seventh of March” Speech
On March 7th, 1850, exactly 115 years before “Bloody Sunday”, Senator Daniel Webster gave his famous three-and-a-half hour “Seventh of March” speech to Congress supporting the Compromise of 1850, which, while it postponed the Civil War, strengthened states’ rights at the cost of African-American freedom. The acquired U.S. territory following the Mexican War revived concerns about the balance of free and slave states. Webster urged northerners to respect slavery in the South and to assist in the return of fugitive slaves, while simultaneously cautioning Southerners that disunion inevitably would lead to war. Webster, who was a presidential candidate at the time, was praised by moderates and heavily criticised by northern abolitionists who believed he had sold his soul to the South’s “peculiar institution” in return for their support.
