When, in 1787, twelve-year-old William Gaston journeyed from his native North Carolina to the District of Columbia to enroll as the first student at Georgetown Academy, he could not have foreseen the role he would one day play in his country's affairs. His student days at Georgetown were filled with the studies and fun of boys of his age as they watched the building of the nation's capital during the Presidency of General Washington. Then at Princeton, in debates between the Clio and Whig Societies, William Gaston developed his gift for oratory; when he graduated at the age of eighteen, he was already remarked for the eloquence with which he defended his ideas of freedom and justice.

Eva Betz continues to keep these ideas before us as she describes Gaston's study of the law and swift rise to leadership in antebellum North Carolina, the spread of his influence to the U.S. Congress where he sat in stormy times with such men as Daniel Webster, John Calhoun and Henry Clay, and became the acknowledged head of the Federalist Party. Later we read of his far-seeing decisions as a member of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, the first American Catholic to be appointed to so important a public office.

William Gaston's attacks on religious intolerance and on the institution of slavery, his defense of the rights of Negroes and his support of the Union were long to be remembered. Equally unforgettable is this personal portrait of Gaston, the affectionate husband and father and the staunch friend, a man no less ardent in his support of his religious beliefs than of the true interests of his country.

From the dust jacket