On March 18, 1782, John C. Calhoun was born near
Abbeville, South Carolina. Calhoun became a congressman, senator, secretary of war, secretary of state, and vice president of the United States. A formidable theorist, Calhoun was also known for his irascible temperament. Even his protégé James Hammond allowed that Calhoun was "wanting in judgement in the managing of men." Calhoun is remembered for his determined defense of the institution of slavery. During the course of his career, he reversed his stand as a nationalist and advocated states' rights as a means of preserving slavery in the South. As a South Carolina senator, Calhoun used the argument of states' rights to protect slavery in what is known as the Nullification Crisis of 1832-1833.
At the end of his senatorial career, Calhoun opposed the Compromise of 1850 because of its proposed limits on slavery during the westward expansion of the nation. Calhoun was clearly a dying man as he was assisted to his desk on the Senate floor a few minutes past noon on March 4, 1850. A black cloak, which he had pulled around his emaciated body, added to the drama of the scene.
Too weak to deliver the 42-page speech himself, Calhoun had his colleague Senator James Murray Mason (1798-1871) of Virginia read from a printed version for him. The emphasis of the speech was wholly on northern aggressions and against the trend for conciliation and compromise. Calhoun believed that two separate nations now existed, and if the differences between them could not be settled, the two should agree to part in peace.
Three days later, on March 7, Senator Daniel Webster argued in favor of the compromise. He both cautioned Southerners that disunion would lead to war and advised Northerners to forgo antislavery measures. The Compromise of 1850 was passed and Calhoun died soon after on March 31, 1850.
- Early in the nation's history members of Congress argued the issue of slavery. In 1784 members debated a resolution introduced to the Continental Congress which would have ended involuntary servitude by the year 1800. Search on slavery in the American Memory collection A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation, 1774-1875 to find examples of early congressional debate on the topic of slavery. For other topics considered by the Congress, browse the subject index of the collection Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789.
- For more material on the movement to abolish slavery, go to the Abolition section of African American Odyssey, or the Abolition section of The African-American Mosaic.
- To learn more about national politics in the 1820s and 1830s, search on Van Buren, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, or John Quincy Adams in Words and Deeds in American History.
- Search the Today in History Archive on the term South Carolina to learn more about people and events in that state. For example, read about the the first regularly scheduled passenger train in the U.S., owned by the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company.
