Were he alive today, many would call him a windbag. But before making any judgment of the man, let's see how he looked to his contemporaries. Let's go to Boston, back to the Faneuil Hall where the Sons of Liberty once met. Four thousand citizens have been sitting in the hall, jammed into the stifling room for hours. They're waiting for Webster to deliver a eulogy.
Thousands more pack the market outside, standing in the hot sun for a chance to enter.
Huge drapes of black cloth hang from the building. It's August 1826, and the nation is mourning the double passing of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom expired with patriotic timing on Independence Day. Just past 11 o'clock, a dozen dignitaries parade into the hall. There's the governor of Massachusetts and the mayor of Boston. The nation's president, John Quincy Adams, remarks that he's never seen so many Bostonians in one place.