Early nineteenth-century lawyer fame rested on courtroom oratory

Evidence

The most famous lawyers in the first half of the nineteenth century were the ones who became known as great orators. Daniel Webster was one of these talker-​lawyers. In the higher courts, speeches might go on for hours, even days. Alexander Hamilton argued for six hours before a New York court in Albany, in a criminal libel case (1804). In the Dartmouth College case (1818), Daniel Webster spoke on behalf of the college for three to five hours; his speech, especially its ending, has gone into legend. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1221

Categorization

• CANDY: Hamilton arguing six hours and Webster’s courtroom ending bringing grown men to tears is conversation-ready legal trivia.
• XREF: connects to: The early nineteenth-century bar had low entry barriers and embraced all work — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 1223; Pre-broadcast courtroom oratory doubled as public entertainment — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 1222