[Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2) by James Gillespie Blaine]@TWC D-Link bookTwenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2) CHAPTER V 29/63
Calhoun was dead.
Clay and Webster and Cass and Benton were near the end of their illustrious careers. New men were thenceforth to guide the policy of the Republic, and among the new men in a Senate of exceptional ability these four attained the largest fame, secured the strongest constituencies, and exerted the widest influence. Both political parties began at once to take ground in favor of the Compromise measures as a final and complete adjustment of the slavery question.
The Southern Whigs under Mr.Clay's lead eagerly assumed that conclusion.
Mr.Fillmore, having approved all the bills separately which taken together formed the Compromise, was of course strongly in favor of regarding these measures as a finality.
Mr.Webster took the same view, though from a bill he had prepared before he left the Senate for the rendition of fugitive slaves, guaranteeing jury-trial to the fugitive, it is hardly conceivable that he would have voted for the harsh measure that was enacted.
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