Editing The Devil and Daniel Webster (section)

===Slavery===
In his speech, Webster denounces [[History of slavery in the United States|slavery]]. Earlier, he states flatly: "A man is not a piece of property." Later, there is this description: "And when he talked of those enslaved, and the sorrows of slavery, his voice got like a big bell."   Benét acknowledges the evil by having the devil say: "When the first wrong was done to the first [[Native Americans in the United States|Indian]], I was there. When the first slaver put out for the [[Kingdom of Kongo|Congo]], I stood on her deck." As for Webster, "He admitted all the wrong that had ever been done. But he showed how, out of the wrong and the right, the suffering and the starvations, something new had come. And everybody had played a part in it, even the traitors."

The real Daniel Webster was [[Daniel Webster#Compromise of 1850|willing to compromise]] on slavery in favor of keeping the Union together, disappointing some radical [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionists]], but he held that only the preservation of the Union could keep anti-slavery forces active in the slave areas. This desire to end the institution was a mainspring of his support for the Union.