John C. Calhoun

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John C. Calhoun

John Caldwell Calhoun (March 18, 1782 – March 31, 1850), was a prominent United States politician of the first half of the 19th century. He served as the seventh Vice President of the United States, first under John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) and then under Andrew Jackson (1829-1832), but resigned the Vice Presidency to enter the United States Senate as Senator from his native South Carolina, enabling him to have a greater influence on American policy. He also served the State in the United States House of Representatives (1810-1817), and the nation as Secretary of War (1817-1824), and Secretary of State (1844-1845).

A pro-slavery advocate of the Democratic-Republican Party, and later the Democratic Party, his staunch determination earned him the nickname the "cast-iron man". In 1957, United States Senators honored Calhoun as one of the "five greatest senators of all time", and he was later among the "seven greatest" named in a 2000 Senate resolution.

1 Early life and education
2 Early career, Monroe Administration
3 Jackson Administration, Nullification crisis
4 U.S. Senate
5 Secretary of State
6 Final years
7 Further reading
- 7.1 Writing and Speeches
- 7.2 Origins
8 See also
9 External links

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Early life and education

John Calhoun was the son of Irish immigrant Patrick Calhoun. When his father became deathly ill when John was 14, the boy quit school to manage the family farm.

Eventually, Calhoun would go on to attend Moses Waddell's "log college" and then enter Yale where he received his bachelor's degree in 1804.

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Early career, Monroe Administration

In 1810 he was elected to Congress, and became one of the War Hawks who, led by Henry Clay, agitated for what became the War of 1812. After the war, he proposed a Bonus Bill for public works. In 1817 he was appointed Secretary of War under James Monroe.

After the odd election of 1824, Calhoun became Vice President under John Quincy Adams. He soon broke with Adams and the National Republicans, who seemed to favor northern interests.

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Jackson Administration, Nullification crisis

He also became Andrew Jackson's running mate in the election of 1828, and again was Vice President. Calhoun had developed a theory of nullification that states (or minorities) could nullify federal legislation, based on the fact that individual states had ratified the Constitution. In this he disagreed with Jackson, who opposed the idea of nullification. This opened a rift between Calhoun and Jackson, which was exacerbated by the Eaton Affair. In 1832, the theory of nullification was put to the test when South Carolina passed an ordinance that claimed to nullify federal tariffs. The "Nullification Crisis" almost degenerated into violence, but coercion by US Navy warships in Charleston averted a secession. During the crisis, Jackson said in a famous toast, "Our federal Union—it must and shall be preserved." In Calhoun's toast, he replied, "The Union; next to our liberty most dear!" The break between Jackson and Calhoun was complete, and Calhoun was not Jackson's running mate in 1832.

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U.S. Senate

On December 28, 1832 he became the first Vice President to resign from office, having accepted election to the United States Senate from his native South Carolina. The Force Bill was proposed by Congress prohibiting states from nullifying federal laws. The Compromise of 1833 settled the matter for a number of years.

Calhoun led the pro-slavery faction in the senate in the 1830s and 1840s, opposing both abolitionism, and attempts to limit the expansion of slavery into the western territories. Unlike previous generations of Southern politicians, who had execused slavery as a regrettable but nevertheless necessary institution, Calhoun defended slavery as a positive good, on explicitly white supremacist grounds. In a February 1837 speech on the Senate floor, he stated: "I take higher ground. I hold that in the present state of civilization, where two races of different origin, and distinguished by color, and other physical differences, as well as intellectual, are brought together, the relation now existing in the slaveholding States between the two, is, instead of an evil, a good -- a positive good". Calhoun's fierce defense of slavery and determination to advance the slave states' cause politically played a major role in deepening, and entrenching, the growing divide between the northern and southern states on this issue, wielding the threat of southern secession to back slave-state demands. He was a major advocate of the Fugitive Slave Law, which enforced the co-operation of Free States in returning escaping slaves. Slavery as an issue was also to split both the Methodist and Baptist churches in America along north-south lines, divisions in which Calhoun had a significant influence.

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Secretary of State

In 1844 he was reappointed Secretary of State by John Tyler, and signed the treaty annexing Texas.

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Final years

Calhoun returned to the Senate in 1845, participating in the epic Senate struggle the produced the Compromise of 1850 despite his deteriorating health.

John Caldwell Calhoun died on March 31, 1850 of tuberculosis in Washington, DC, at the age of 68, and was buried in St. Phillips Churchyard in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1957, United States Senators honored Calhoun as one of the "five greatest senators of all time", and was later among the "seven greatest" named in 2000 Senate resolution.

He penned Disquisition on Government and Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States.

He was honored on a one-cent Confederate States postage stamp,(Scott #14) printed but never officially released. (See Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States)

Calhoun's son-in-law was Thomas Green Clemson, another prominent South Carolinian who became the founder of Clemson University. Today, the campus rests upon the Fort Hill estate that Calhoun once called home.

Also, Calhoun's great-great-great grandson is Dr. Charles W. Calhoun, professor of history at East Carolina University and author of Benjamin Harrison: 23rd president.

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External links

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

John C. Calhoun

Works by John C. Calhoun at Project Gutenberg
University of Virginia: John C. Calhoun - Timeline, quotes, & contemporaries.
The History of Clemson University - Information on the John C. Calhoun House at Clemson University.
Other images: [1], [2], [3]

Preceded by: Joseph Calhoun	U.S. Congressman for the 6th District of South Carolina 1811-1817	Succeeded by: Eldred Simkins
Preceded by: William H. Crawford	United States Secretary of War 1817-1825	Succeeded by: James Barbour
Preceded by: Daniel D Tompkins	Republican Party vice presidential candidate 1824 (won)	Succeeded by: (none)
Preceded by: Daniel D Tompkins	Vice President of the United States March 4, 1825 – December 28, 1832	Succeeded by: Martin Van Buren
Preceded by: (none)	Democratic Party vice presidential candidate 1828 (won)	Succeeded by: Martin Van Buren
Preceded by: Robert Y. Hayne	U.S. Senator from South Carolina 1832-1843	Succeeded by: Daniel E. Huger
Preceded by: Abel P. Upshur	United States Secretary of State April 1, 1844 – March 10, 1845	Succeeded by: James Buchanan
Preceded by: Daniel E. Huger	U.S. Senator from South Carolina 1845-1850	Succeeded by: Franklin H. Elmore