Talk:Daniel Webster

Conservatives and Liberals??

Aren't these post-Civil War labels? I find it anachronistic to call Webster a "conservative"; Webster was dead before J. S. Mill defined Liberalism. Webster was a Whig. Leave it at that. Besides I don't know of a single conservative that doesn't believe in free trade, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion. Damn liberals! And it gets really confusing to oppose Webster to the Democratic Party which in the Antebellum period was the conservative party. And being "a spokesman for modernization and the industrial interests" in the 1830s makes him a raving radical!! This first paragraph needs some work. If Webster was a conservative he'd be old republican and agrarian. Russell D. Jones 02:28, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

A very small hat thrown into the ring

I am moving the previous last sentence of the lede paragraph here, " He aspired to the White House but was an elitist, not a "man of the people," and the people knew it." This is a nice ringing expression, as are many things from the presumed author. Nevertheless, it is a judgment, it makes some assumptions about what "the people" knew, and I don't think should be present without sourcing.

Objective expert commentary is one thing; editorializing is another. Howard C. Berkowitz 02:48, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

Yet another hat: "second party system"

I've been wondering about this about since I joined this site, but I figured I'd ask now since it appears in the lead sentence of this article: Is there any reason the "party systems" scheme is used so prominently in American party politics discussions here? I can see where it's sometimes useful for periodizing American political development, but other times it seems kind of forced. Shamira Gelbman 03:00, 15 March 2009 (UTC)