In the early 1800s, the Founders were gradually replaced by such figures as Daniel Webster, the North's champion orator; Henry Clay, who embodied the hopes of the rising West; and John Calhoun, who defended the South and slavery. For four decades, each sought to remedy the two glaring flaws in the Constitution: its refusal to specify whether the states or the nation were the highest power, and its unwillingness to address slavery. As H.W. Brands recounts, "the immortal trio" had one last chance to save the country from civil war, but it was already too late.