JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. PH I I. a D r i. i' ii i \ : [PPINCOTT COMPANY 188 •loil.N CALDWELL CALHOUN. — • - ) / P II I LA D i: I. r H I \ : [PPINCOTT COM PAN Y 1888. Copyright, 1888, by .J. B. Lippin< ott Compakt JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. Calhoun, John Caldwell, an American statesman, was born in Abbeville District (now county), South Carolina, March 18, 1782. He was of [rish Presbyterian descent. He graduated at Yale College in 1804 with honours, and became a successful lawyer. Entering con- gress as a representative from his native state in 1811, he at once took a prominent place before the country as a supporter of the measures which led to the war of I 812 -15 with Great Britain. In 1816 he supported a bill for establishing a protective tariff, and reported to con- gress a measure for the creation of a national bank. In 1817 he joined Monroe'.- cabinel a- Secretary of War. and in 1819, at the request of congress, submitted a plan for an extensive system of internal improvements. II i> labours in the reorganisation of the war department were of extreme value to the country. He was vice-president of the United States under the presidency of John Q. Adams (1825-29), and under that of General Jackson from 1829 to 1832, when he resigned the office. He prepared the first draft of the South Carolina Exposition of 1x29. a document of 56 printed pages, which distinctly marks the commencement of a new stage in Mr( Jalhoun's career. In this paper he announced the doctrine that a state can nullify unconstitutional laws, the principal h for the proposed exercise of this all< 4 J01IS CALDWELL CALHOUN. right being the differing interests of different sections of the country, free trade being regarded as highly advan- tageous to tin- more southern states, and a protective tariff being conceded to be no less desirable for other parts of the country. The breath in his personal friendship for President Jackson (1830) c ipletely freed him from old party affiliations, and left him free for a new political career. His Address to the People of South <_'"r2 of the nullification ordinance was the occasion of his resignation of the vice-presidency, and of his entering the United Smtes senate. Mr Calhoun accepted the compromise tariff of 1833. The remainder of his political career was that of a leader of the states-rights movement, and a champion of the real or supposed in- terests of the slave-holding state-. More clearly than almost any other man in the country he understood the radical differences then existing between the social and industrial systems of the northern and southern Btab S, and foresaw the bloody consequences which might sooner or later result from those differences. He left the senate in 1813, and in the following year became Secretary of State under President Tyler, in which capacity he signed a treaty by which it was proposed that Texas should be annexed to the Union. In 1845 lie resumed hi- place in the senate. He strenuously opposed the war of 1846 -47 with Mexico. He died at Washington of pulmon- ary disease, combined with a cardiac affection, 1850. Mr Calhoun, though not a man of j ing, possessed high intellectual power,finelog enormous capacity for labour, keen politic; JOHN CALDWELL C ILHOVH .", and strong will ; and his personal integrity and mural purity were never called in question. The Lif( of Cal- houn, by K. S. -Jenkins (1851), contains mosl of tin- accessible details of his personal career. Sec also his col- lected works (ii vols. 1853-54), with a Life by Et. K. ('.•alio, and II. von I [olst's John C. Calhoun (1882). The latter book discusses the leading evidences of < lalhoun's career as viewed from an anti-slavery standpoint. W ith Henry Clay and Daniel Webster he formed 'the meat triumvirate' in the sense of ado.-, • political union, for the three greal orators were never closely associated, and were often in antagonism. Mr Calhoun seriously regarded slavery as a blessing to all concerned with it; and the systematic defence of that institution was the main pur- pose of almost all his public acts during the latter half of his life. Mr Calhoun was tall and slender, with a thin, deeply lined and angular face. His bright and expressive eyes when he was speaking in public added much to the effect of his impassioned oratory. He was a brilliant talker, and had a large following of warm personal friends. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 011 838 156 A