Born on January 18, 1782, in Salisbury, New Hampshire, Daniel Webster was the son of a Revolutionary War officer. At fourteen he went off to Phillips Exeter Academy, a preparatory school; a year later he entered Dartmouth College, graduating near the top of his class in 1801. Admitted to the bar in 1805, Webster soon embarked on a career in politics as a member of the Federalist Party, which advocated a strong central government and a diverse, integrated economy. Elected to Congress from New Hampshire in 1812, Webster opposed the decision by James Madison’s administration to go to war against Great Britain that year, saying that it would damage New England economically. Federalists risked being portrayed as unpatriotic for opposing the war; when Americans believed that they had prevailed in the conflict owing to Andrew Jackson’s astonishing victory in New Orleans, most Federalists found themselves struggling to survive in public life. As for Webster, after moving to Boston in 1816, he would win election to Congress as a representative from Massachusetts in 1822.