John Caldwell Calhoun, 1782-1850
John C. Calhoun is best remembered as an American statesman and political philosopher. From 1811 until his death, Calhoun served in the federal government -- as congressman, secretary of war, vice president, senator, secretary of state, and again as senator.
Born on 18 March 1782 in the Abbeville district of South Carolina, Calhoun was largely self-educated before entering Yale as a junior in 1801. After graduating with honors in 1804, he attended law school in Litchfield, Connecticut, and was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1807.
His law practice led to service in the South Carolina legislature from 1809 to 1811. There, he helped establish a balance of power between the planters from the tidewater region and piedmont farmers.
Calhoun entered the U.S. Congress in 1811. He was among those young nationalists known as the War Hawks urging war with Great Britain. His proposals for strengthening the armed forces and financing the war led to Calhoun's appointment as secretary of war in James Monroe's cabinet.
In 1824, Calhoun was elected vice president under John Quincy Adams. By 1828, he had aligned himself with Andrew Jackson and was again elected to the vice presidency when Jackson won the presidency. Unfortunately, Jackson and Calhoun had become bitter enemies by 1832 and, Calhoun resigned as vice president to reenter the Senate.
During his terms as vice president, Calhoun turned away from nationalism to become a strong champion of state's rights. A series of tariffs levied on manufactured goods tended to depress the foreign market for cotton products from the South; and in 1832, South Carolina declared the tariff null and void within the state. A compromise tariff was ultimately negotiated by Henry Clay.
By this time, he had become preoccupied by sectional interests. As the antislavery campaign grew in the North, Calhoun, who had merely tolerated slavery, became its strongest defender. In 1844, as secretary of state in John Tyler's administration, he negotiated a treaty for the annexation of Texas. This effectively perserved sectional balance in the union by enlarging the area open to slavery.
Calhoun's last appearance in Congress was on 7 March 1850, as he heard and approved Daniel Webster's appeal for sectional peace. Three days earlier, too ill to speak, Calhoun sat in the Senate as his speech was read for him. He died in Washington on 31 March 1850.
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