Note 1105 — Chapter VII
Reading edition
Annals, 18th Cong. 1st Sess. 2541.
Throughout this session Webster appears to have been much disturbed. For example, as early as April 10, 1824, he writes Story: "I am exhausted. When I look in the glass, I think of our old New England saying, 'As thin as a shad.' I have not vigor enough left, either mental or physical, to try an action for assault and battery.... I shall call up some bills reported by our [Judiciary] committee.... The gentlemen of the West will propose a clause, requiring the assent of a majority of all the judges to a judgment, which pronounces a state law void, as being in violation of the constitution or laws of the United States. Do you see any great evil in such a provision? Judge Todd told me he thought it would give great satisfaction in the West. In what phraseology would you make such a provision?" (Webster to Story, April 10, 1824, Priv. Corres.: Webster, i, 348-49.)