Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

CALHOUN, JOHN CALDWELL, (cousin of John Ewing Colhoun and Joseph Calhoun), a Representative and a Senator from South Carolina and a Vice President of the United States; born near Calhoun Mills, Abbeville District (now Mount Carmel, McCormick County), S.C., March 18, 1782; attended the common schools and private academies; graduated from Yale College in 1804; studied law, admitted to the bar in 1807, and commenced practice in Abbeville, S.C.; also engaged in agricultural pursuits; member, State house of representatives 1808-1809; elected as a Democratic Republican to the Twelfth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1811, to November 3, 1817, when he resigned; Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President James Monroe 1817-1825; elected vice president of the United States in 1824 with President John Quincy Adams; reelected in 1828 with President Andrew Jackson and served from March 4, 1825, to December 28, 1832, when he resigned, having been elected as a Democratic Republican (later Nullifier) to the United States Senate on December 12, 1832, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Robert Y. Hayne; reelected in 1834 and 1840 and served from December 29, 1832, until his resignation, effective March 3, 1843; Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President John Tyler 1844-1845; again elected to the United States Senate, as a Democrat, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Daniel E. Huger; reelected in 1846 and served from November 26, 1845, until his death in Washington, D.C., March 31, 1850; chairman, Committee on Finance (Twenty-ninth Congress); interment in St. Philip's Churchyard, Charleston, S.C.

<p>John Caldwell Calhoun was born March 18, 1782, near Abbeville, South Carolina. He graduated from Yale College in 1804 and was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1807 but only practiced law briefly. Calhoun was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1808 and then served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democratic-Republican from 1811 to 1817. In the House, Calhoun distinguished himself as one of the "War Hawks" who supported President James Madison's efforts to declare war on Britain in 1812.</p>

<p>President James Monroe appointed Calhoun secretary of war, and he served for the entirety of Monroe's two administrations from 1817 to 1825. As secretary of war, he was considered an able administrator, overseeing a review of the department's operations and accounts. In the 1824 election, Calhoun initially hoped to be considered for the presidency, but recognizing his inability to compete with John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, or William Crawford, he ultimately accepted the vice presidency. When no presidential candidate won an electoral majority, the House of Representatives chose John Quincy Adams as President despite Jackson's winning the popular votes. Adams in turn selected Clay as his secretary of state. Calhoun was deeply offended by this perceived "corrupt bargain," in which people alleged that Clay had engineered Adams' election in the House in exchange for the appointment. Calhoun and Adams also agreed politically on few issues and had a tense relationship, which only deteriorated during the administration. In the election of 1828, Calhoun was reelected as vice president on a ticket with Andrew Jackson. At first Jackson and Calhoun seemed to work together more smoothly than Calhoun had with Adams, but that situation was short lived. They disagreed over policy, especially the policy of nullification. In response to a tariff that negatively impacted the rural South, Calhoun advocated the idea that the United States was a compact between states, and if a state disagreed with federal policy, it could veto any federal act that intruded on state sovereignty. President Jackson vehemently disagreed.</p>

<p>Calhoun also had a personal falling out with Jackson over Secretary of War John Eaton and his wife Peggy. Scandalous stories had circulated about Peggy Eaton, whose first husband had died under mysterious circumstances—allegedly committing suicide due to Peggy's infidelity with Eaton. Cabinet wives, including Calhoun's wife, Floride, regarded Peggy Eaton with abhorrence and conspicuously shunned her. In that snubbing, President Jackson saw the kind of vicious persecution that he believed had hounded his own wife Rachel to her death. Jackson came to blame Calhoun for the situation, accusing him of treachery and initiating an angry correspondence that severed social relations between the two men. This situation allowed Martin Van Buren to win favor with Jackson and ultimately replace Calhoun as vice president in the 1832 election. Calhoun became the first vice president to resign his position in December 1832; he then served in the U.S. Senate from 1832 to 1843. During his years in the Senate, he ceased to be a nationalist and became a staunch sectionalist and outspoken defender of slavery and the South. In 1844, President John Tyler appointed Calhoun secretary of state, and Calhoun served in that position for one year. He was reelected to the Senate in 1845 and served until his death on March 31, 1850.</p>

<p>John Caldwell Calhoun (March 18, 1782 – March 31, 1850) was an American statesman and political theorist from South Carolina who served as the seventh vice president of the United States from 1825 to 1832. He is remembered for strongly defending slavery and for advancing the concept of minority states' rights in politics. He did this in the context of protecting the interests of the white South when its residents were outnumbered by Northerners. He began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent of a strong national government and protective tariffs. In the late 1820s, his views changed radically, and he became a leading proponent of states' rights, limited government, nullification, and opposition to high tariffs. He saw Northern acceptance of those policies as a condition of the South remaining in the Union. His beliefs and warnings heavily influenced the South's secession from the Union in 1860–1861.</p>

<p>Calhoun began his political career with election to the House of Representatives in 1810. As a prominent leader of the war hawk faction, Calhoun strongly supported the War of 1812 to defend American honor against British infractions of American independence and neutrality during the Napoleonic Wars. He served as Secretary of War under President James Monroe and, in that position, reorganized and modernized the War Department. Calhoun was a candidate for the presidency in the 1824 election. After failing to gain support, he agreed to be a candidate for vice president. The Electoral College elected Calhoun for vice president by an overwhelming majority. He served under John Quincy Adams and continued under Andrew Jackson, who defeated Adams in the election of 1828.</p>

<p>Calhoun had a difficult relationship with Jackson, primarily because of the Nullification Crisis and the Petticoat affair. In contrast with his previous nationalism, Calhoun vigorously supported South Carolina's right to nullify federal tariff legislation that he believed unfairly favored the North, which put him into conflict with unionists such as Jackson. In 1832, with only a few months remaining in his second term, Calhoun resigned as vice president and entered the Senate. He sought the Democratic Party nomination for the presidency in 1844 but lost to surprise nominee James K. Polk, who won the general election. Calhoun served as Secretary of State under President John Tyler from 1844 to 1845. As Secretary of State, he supported the annexation of Texas as a means to extend the slave power and helped to settle the Oregon boundary dispute with Britain. He returned to the Senate, where he opposed the Mexican–American War, the Wilmot Proviso, and the Compromise of 1850 before his death in 1850. Calhoun often served as a virtual independent, who variously aligned, as needed, with Democrats and Whigs.</p>

<p>Later in life, Calhoun became known as the "cast-iron man" for his rigid defense of white Southern beliefs and practices. His concept of republicanism emphasized approval of slavery and minority states' rights as particularly embodied by the South. His concept of minority rights did not extend to enslaved black people, and he owned dozens of slaves in Fort Hill, South Carolina. Calhoun asserted that slavery, rather than being a "necessary evil," was a "positive good" that benefited both slaves and owners. To protect minority rights against majority rule, he called for a concurrent majority by which the minority could block some proposals that it felt infringed on their liberties. To that end, Calhoun supported states' rights and nullification through which states could declare null and void federal laws that they viewed as unconstitutional. Calhoun was one of the "Great Triumvirate" or the "Immortal Trio" of Congressional leaders, along with his colleagues Daniel Webster and Henry Clay.</p>

<p>In 1957, a five-member "special" committee, led by Senator John F. Kennedy, selected Calhoun as one of the five senators to enter the newly created senatorial pantheon "hall of fame." This "hall of fame" was established to fill five vacant portrait spaces in the Senate Reception Room.</p>