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the attention of Washington by his unusual ability, and in 1800 was
appointed by him secretary of state. A year later he was made chief
justice of the Supreme Court--an appointment little less than inspired
in its wisdom.

For thirty-four years, John Marshall occupied that exalted position,
interpreting to the new country its organic law, and the decisions
handed down by him remain the standard authority on constitutional
questions. In clearness of thought, breadth of view, and strength of
logic they have never been surpassed. His service to his country was of
incalculable value, for he built for the national government a firm,
foundation which has stood unshaken through the years.

* * * * *

So we come to a new era in American history--an era marked by unexampled
bitterness of feeling and culminating in the great struggle for the
preservation of the Union. Across this era, three mighty giants cast
their shadows--Henry Clay and Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun.

Closely and curiously intertwined were the destinies of these three men,
Clay was born in 1777; Webster and Calhoun five years later. Calhoun and
Clay were Irishmen and hated England; Webster was a Scotchman, and
Scotchmen were usually Tories. Calhoun and Clay were southerners, but
with a difference, for Calhoun was born in the very sanctum sanctorum of
the South, South Carolina, while Clay's life was spent in the border
state of Kentucky, so removed from the South that it did not secede from
the Union. Webster was a product of Massachusetts. Calhoun and Webster
were, in temperament and belief, as far apart as the poles; Clay stood
between them, "the great compromiser." Calhoun and Webster were greater
than Clay, for they possessed a larger genius and a broader culture; and
Webster was a greater man than Calhoun, because he possessed the truer
vision. Calhoun died in 1850; Clay and Webster in 1852. For the forty
years previous to that, these three men were in every way the most
famous and conspicuous in America. Others flashed, meteor-like, into a
brief brilliance; but these three burned steady as the stars. They had
no real rivals. And yet, though each of them was consumed by an ambition
to be President, not one was able to realize that ambition, and their
last years were embittered by defeat.

As has been said, Clay was the smallest man of the three. His reputation
rests, not upon constructive statesmanship, but upon hi