McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson LXXI · Part 8: Webster, Evangeline and the poets of death and toil

77. Massachusetts and South Carolina (Daniel Webster)

Goal: Your student can explain how Webster answered a rival by praising his rival's state, and can deliver a short passage of the speech aloud.

⏱ About 40 minutes · 7 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗

You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook and pen
  • A dictionary

What's in the book

Part of Daniel Webster's famous Senate reply to Robert Y. Hayne (whose speech is the lesson before). Webster praises the heroes of South Carolina as Americans, then refuses to praise Massachusetts because she needs no praise.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    Look over the notes and definitions printed at the end of the lesson before you start, so names and hard words don't trip up the reading.

    Names to know: the Laurenses, Rutledges, Pinckneys, Sumters and Marions were South Carolina families and leaders Webster names; Concord, Lexington and Bunker Hill are early battles of the Revolution.

    Your student picks three unfamiliar words, guesses each meaning from the sentence, then checks a dictionary.

  2. About the author

    The book's note calls Webster a celebrated American statesman and orator, born in Salisbury, New Hampshire. If your student read Lesson LXX, remind them that Hayne of South Carolina spoke first; this is Webster's answer.

  3. Read aloud

    This is a speech, so read it like one: standing, slowly, with pauses at each semicolon. The parent reads the first paragraph; the student reads the rest.

    Listen for these lines:

    There is Boston, and Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker Hill

    There is her history; the world knows it by heart.

  4. Talk about it

    SayWebster could have attacked South Carolina. Instead he praised its heroes. Why might that be a stronger way to answer an opponent?

    SayHe says those heroes belong to the whole country, not one state. Do you agree that a hero can belong to everyone?

    SayWhy does he say Massachusetts needs no praise? What does he point to instead of praising her?

    SayWhat does he warn could happen if the states pull apart?

  5. Narration

    Your student tells back the speech in their own words in about a minute: what Webster says about South Carolina, then about Massachusetts, then about the Union.

  6. Memorize or copy

    Learn these lines and say them with Webster's force:

    There is her history; the world knows it by heart.

  7. Writing (optional)

    Write a paragraph praising a town or state that is not your own, the way Webster praised South Carolina. Name real people or places.

Afterwards

Recite the memorized line tomorrow without the book.

Tip

Webster's speeches were meant to be heard. Let your student practice one paragraph aloud two or three times until it sounds like a real speech.

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