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John C. Calhoun Life span
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Calhoun begins his political career
Calhoun was elected to the first of three terms in the United States House of Representatives, Twelfth Congress. This began his political career. -
War Hawk
Calhoun was one of the leading War Hawks who maneuvered the unprepared United States into war with Great Britain in 1812. After the U.S. had won the war, people saw him as a great leader/politician. -
Calhoun's Next Step
He creates a report on the development of roads and canals. Later, he was elected Vice-President of the United States, under John Q. Adams. -
South Carolina Exposition and Protest
Calhoun drafted for the South Carolina legislature his Exposition and Protest. The document was a protest against the Tariff of 1828, also known as the Tariff of Abominations. The document stated that if the tariff was not repealed, South Carolina would secede. It stated also Calhoun's Doctrine of nullification, i.e., the idea that a state has the right to reject federal law, first introduced by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in their Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. -
Resigning Vice-Presidency
Mr. Calhoun resigned from the Vice-Presidency under Andrew Jackson. He left as one of the worst vice-presidents ever. -
Compromise of 1850
When trying to ratify the Compromise of 1850, Daniel Webster faced his greatest political opponent, John C. Calhoun. These arguments showed Calhoun's political skills. These arguments hightened his political career once again. -
Opposing the Mexican-American War
John C. Calhoun was reelected to the senate in 1845, he opposed the Mexican-American War because he felt American victory would result in territorial concessions that would place the Union in jeapardy -
"positive good" speech
Calhoun chose the occasion to positively defend the institution of slavery as it then existed in the South because of a new enemy that needed to be clearly identified and checked. The time of that session of Congress and the previous one had been consumed for weeks by abolition petitions. These had literally flooded the Congress. An entire large room in the National Archives. -
Defeat the Wilmot Proviso
John Calhoun defeated the Wilmot Proviso, and he made a proposal that was different from the Wilmot Proviso because Calhoun's proposal stated that neither congress nor any territorial government had the authority to ban slavery from a territory, or regulate slavery in any sort of way. -
Unify the South
He gave a speech on the resolutions regarding the Wilmot Proviso.
Calls for Southern unity. This is when the south started to unify. Calhoun believed in the south. -
slavery is positive good
Calhoun chose the occasion to positively defend the institution of slavery as it then existed in the South because of a new enemy that needed to be clearly identified. The time of that session of Congress and the previous one had been consumed for weeks by abolition petitions. These had literally flooded the Congress. An entire large room in the National Archives is needed to contain them. There had been interminable wrangling in both houses about how to deal with this unprecedented situation.
