The responsibility on the American side fell upon Daniel Webster, the new Secretary of State.

With less foreign experience than John Quincy Adams, he was more a man of the world and a man among men.

His conversation was decidedly less ponderous than his oratory, and there was no more desirable dinner guest in America.

Even in Webster's lightest moments, his majestic head gave the impression of colossal mentality, and his eyes, when he was in earnest, almost hypnotized those upon whom he bent his gaze.

A leading figure in public life for twenty-five years, he now attained administrative position for the first time, and his constant practice at the bar had given something of a lawyerlike trend to his mind.
The desire of the British Government for an agreement with the United States was shown by the selection of Washington instead of London as the place of negotiation and of Lord Ashburton as negotiator.