In October 1852, one of America’s most powerful men lay dying of cirrhosis in a Massachusetts estate. With his final strength he uttered three defiant words: ‘I still live.’ A fitting exit for a man whose entire life was built on the undeniable force of his own words.

This episode unpacks Daniel Webster, the 19th-century titan who argued 223 cases before the Supreme Court and wrote the ideological soundtrack of American union. We explore his landmark legal victories, his soaring defense of the union, and the financial corruption and agonizing moral compromise over slavery that tore his legacy apart.

• How the Dartmouth College case accidentally laid the foundation for modern corporate law
• The Supreme Court lifting his exact words, ‘the power to tax is the power to destroy,’ into its ruling
• His ‘Liberty and Union’ reply to Hayne that taught a generation American nationalism
• Taking cash retainers from banker Nicholas Biddle while protecting the bank in the Senate
• The 7th of March speech backing the Fugitive Slave Act that destroyed his Northern reputation