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John C. Calhoun
Historical figureUnited States1782-1850

John C. Calhoun

7th Vice President of the United States (1825-1832) · U.S. Secretary of War (1817-1825) and Secretary of State (1844-1845)

A South Carolina statesman who shaped the theory of nullification and the concurrent majority and became the Senate's most prominent defender of slavery before the Civil War.

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ECONOMYSTATESOCIETYWORLDOwnershipMarketsWelfareAuthoritySecurityStructureMoralityReligionTechnologyCultureTradeForeign
Where they stood

John C. Calhoun, axis by axis

  1. 01Ownership+60
    PublicPrivate

    He defended private property in the broadest sense, which included owning enslaved people, whom he claimed benefited from slavery.

  2. 02Markets+40
    PlannedFree
  3. 03Welfare+40
    SharedSelf-reliant
  4. 04Authority-10
    DemocraticStrong leader

    His concurrent majority would let minorities veto majorities, a hard brake on central power. It was meant to protect slaveholders, and he rejected equality, so he lands near the middle.

  5. 05Security+40
    LibertyOrder
  6. 06Structure-85
    LocalCentral

    He began as a nationalist who favored a national bank and internal improvements, and ended as the main theorist of nullification and states' rights.

  7. 07Morality+50
    ProgressiveTraditional
  8. 08ReligionNo clear record
    SecularReligious
  9. 09TechnologyNo clear record
    EmbraceCaution
  10. 10Culture+80
    MulticulturalNational identity

    His defense of slavery was openly racial. He also argued against annexing all of Mexico, since he thought its people could not govern themselves.

  11. 11Trade-60
    GlobalProtected

    As a young nationalist he supported the Tariff of 1816. From 1828 he argued that tariffs could raise revenue but could not be used to protect industry.

  12. 12Foreign policy+25
    CooperationStrength

2 axes have no clear record, so matching leaves them out.

Who was John C. Calhoun?

John C. Calhoun, a planter and lawyer in South Carolina, filled almost every national office except the presidency. In Congress from 1811, he was a War Hawk who urged war with Britain in 1812. In those years he also favored a stronger army, better roads and a national bank. Monroe made him Secretary of War, and he then served as vice president for both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, quitting in 1832 amid the nullification crisis. As senator, and later as John Tyler's Secretary of State, he emerged as the most important political thinker defending slavery and Southern rights. He died in 1850.

Political views

  • In 1837 he told the Senate that slavery was a positive good and not an evil.Source: clemson.edu
  • His anonymous South Carolina Exposition and Protest of 1828 said a state could veto federal laws it thought unconstitutional, starting with the protective tariff.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  • He held that Congress could use its tariff power to raise revenue only, never to shield home industry.Source: teachingamericanhistory.org
  • His idea of the concurrent majority would let affected states block federal action. He laid it out in A Disquisition on Government.Source: clemson.edu
  • As Secretary of State he pushed for annexing Texas so that slavery could spread.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  • He stood against the war with Mexico, against the Wilmot Proviso on banning slavery in conquered land, and against the Compromise of 1850.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  • He taught that secession could be defended if nullification and compromise both failed.Source: clemson.edu

Legacy

Some have long admired Calhoun for original ideas about restraining a majority. A Senate committee led by John F. Kennedy picked him in 1957 for its list of the Senate's greatest members. Critics such as the historian Richard Hofstadter say his concurrent majority shielded propertied minorities, not minorities as a whole, and was built to defend slavery. He enslaved dozens of people at Fort Hill, and his arguments on slavery in the territories were repeated later in the Dred Scott case. Many see his stand on nullification and sectional rights as groundwork for secession and civil war. Yale renamed its Calhoun College in 2017, and the city of Charleston took down his monument in 2020.

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John C. Calhoun: questions

Why is John C. Calhoun famous?

He is remembered for nullification, for the concurrent majority and for being the Senate's chief defender of slavery. He was also vice president, war secretary and secretary of state.

What is the concurrent majority?

In Calhoun's theory, each major interest, such as a state or a region, should be able to block laws it opposed. Critics say its real aim was to shield slaveholders.

Why did Calhoun resign as vice president?

He gave up the office in 1832 as the nullification crisis over the tariff peaked, having fallen out with President Jackson. He went to the Senate to argue South Carolina's case.

Sources