It gave eloquent expression to the strong but undefined feeling in the popular mind.

It found its way into every house and was read everywhere; it took its place in the school books, to be repeated by shrill boy voices, and became part of the literature and of the intellectual life of the country.

In those solemn sentences men read the description of what the United States had come to be under the Constitution, and what American nationality meant in 1830.

The leaders of the young war party in 1812 were the first to arouse the national sentiment, but no one struck the chord with such a master hand as Mr.Webster, or drew forth such long and deep vibrations.

There is no single utterance in our history which has done so much by mere force of words to strengthen the love of nationality and implant it deeply in the popular heart, as the reply to Hayne.
Before the delivery of that speech Mr.Webster was a distinguished statesman, but the day after he awoke to a national fame which made all his other triumphs pale.