Author: John Niven Publisher: LSU Press ISBN: 9780807118580 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 392
Book Description
John C. Calhoun (1782–1850) was one of the prominent figure of American politics in the first half of the nineteenth century. The son of a slaveholding South Carolina family, he served in the federal government in various capacities—as senator from his home state, as secretary of war and secretary of state, and as vice-president in the administrations of John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Calhoun was a staunch supporter of the interests of his state and region. His battle from tariff reform, aimed at alleviating the economic problems of the southern states, eventually led him to formulate his famous nullification doctrine, which asserted the right of states to declare federal laws null and void within their own boundaries. In the first full-scale biography of Calhoun in almost half a century, John Niven skillfully presents a new interpretation of this preeminent spokesman of the Old South. Deftly blending Calhoun’s public career with important elements of his private life, Niven shows Calhoun to have been at once a more consistent politician and a far more complex human being than previous historians have thought. Rather than history’s image of an assured, self-confident Calhoun, Niven reveals a figure who was in many ways insecure and defensive. Niven maintains that the War of 1812, which Calhoun helped instigate and which nearly resulted in the nation’s ruin, made a lasting impression on Calhoun’s mind and personality. From that point until the end of his life, he sought security first from the western Indians and the British while he was secretary of war, then from northern exploitation of southern wealth through what he regarded as manipulation of public policy while he was vice-president and a senator. He worked tirelessly to further the South’s slave-plantation system of economic and social values. He sought protection for a region that he freely admitted was low in population and poor in material resources, and he defended a position that he knew was morally inferior. Niven portrays Calhoun as a driven, tragic figure whose ambitions and personal desires to achieve leadership and compensate for a lack of inner assurance were often thwarted. The life he made for himself, the peace he felt on his plantation with his dependent retainers, and the agricultural pursuits that represented to him and his neighbors stability in a rapidly changing environment were beyond price. Calhoun sought to resist any menace to this way of life with all the force of his character and intellect. Yet in the end Calhoun’s headstrong allegiance to his region helped to destroy the very culture he sought to preserve and disrupted the Union he had hoped to keep whole. Niven’s masterful retelling of Calhoun’s eventful life is a model biography.
Author: R. M. T. Hunter Publisher: Forgotten Books ISBN: 9780656512119 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 80
Book Description
Excerpt from Life of John C. Calhoun: Presenting a Condensed History of Political Events From 1811 to 1843 Including the Period from his Infancy until he entered Congress. The object of the present memoir of john caldwell calhoun is not to present a biography of the man, but to describe him as a statesman; to draw and to develop his character in that capacity, and to trace his emi nent public services during a long career in one of the most eventful pe riods of human history. To dwell on a character like his, distinguished by every trait that should win esteem and command admiration, would be to the biographer a most attractive labour; but the pleasure of depicting a private life elevated by spotless purity and integrity, and a severe sim plicity of tastes and habits, must be relinquished - except so far as occa sioual reference to his early history may become necessary - for the high er duty of portraying his intellectual features, and of explaining his mo tives and conduct as a public man. It is not our aim to commend him to public affection, Or to enlist popular sympathy in his behalf, but rather to show to the world, not for his sake, but for its own instruction, the deep influence of this master-mind upon the great political events of his age. A fair and impartial review of the career of this eminent statesman in connexion with public affairs, is necessary to a thorough understanding of the course of our own government for nearly two thirds of its existence. Such a review, it is believed, would be no unacceptable offering at the present time. Throughout the whole period from 1811 up to the pres ent time he has served the Union in the various capacities of Represent ative, Secretary of War, Vice-president, and Senator. He has taken a prominent and influential part in all the great questions which have arisen during that long interval; and, although he has asked a release from farther public service, it is not impossible that he may be destined to close his career as a statesman in another and a higher station. With faculties unclouded, with physical powers unimpaired, with a judgment matured by observation and experience, with an intrepidity untamed by the many trying vicissitudes of his extraordinary life, and with an activity whose energies are unabated by time, it is probable that. The American people will not dispense with such services as he might render in the highest sphere open to American statesmen. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Author: Gustavus M. Pinckney Publisher: Charleston, S.C., Walker, Evans & Cogswell Company ISBN: Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 274
Book Description
A biography of the "cast-iron man" of the South, this 1903 book follows the champion of the theory of nullification, who was an inspiration to secessionists though he died ten years before the Civil War. It draws heavily on its subject's speeches and other writings to paint a highly sympathetic portrait of the controversial South Carolina Senator. -- goodreads.com
Author: Robert Elder Publisher: Basic Books ISBN: 046509645X Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 400
Book Description
A new biography of the intellectual father of Southern secession—the man who set the scene for the Civil War, and whose political legacy still shapes America today. John C. Calhoun is among the most notorious and enigmatic figures in American political history. First elected to Congress in 1810, Calhoun went on to serve as secretary of war and vice president. But he is perhaps most known for arguing in favor of slavery as a "positive good" and for his famous doctrine of "state interposition," which laid the groundwork for the South to secede from the Union—and arguably set the nation on course for civil war. Calhoun has catapulted back into the public eye in recent years, as some observers connected the strain of radical politics he developed to the tactics and extremism of the modern Far Right, and as protests over racial injustice have focused on his legacy. In this revelatory biographical study, historian Robert Elder shows that Calhoun is even more broadly significant than these events suggest, and that his story is crucial for understanding the political climate in which we find ourselves today. By excising Calhoun from the mainstream of American history, he argues, we have been left with a distorted understanding of our past and no way to explain our present.
Author: Hermann Von Holst Publisher: ISBN: Category : Legislators Languages : en Pages : 416
Book Description
Herman von Holst's John C. Calhoun is a biography of the divisive and influential Southern statesmen who dominated much of the American political discourse in the years prior to the Civil War. The work covers the subject's life from his youth, through his introduction to American politics, to his tenure as Vice President under Andrew Jackson and in the U.S. Senate as the "Great Nullifier". The work concludes with his participation in the debates about the Mexican War and its consequences. Throughout the work, von Holst is critical of Calhoun as the Southern statesmen schemed for the dissolution of the Union. As was the case with American political history during the period, the issue of slavery dominates the biography. Von Holst presents Calhoun as a proud defender of the institution and by extension a defender of state sovereignty and the right to secede. He takes Calhoun at his word, reprinting several of the Southerner's speeches in which he states the absolute necessity of protecting Southern "Liberty", even at the cost of disunion.
Author: John Niven![Life of John C. Calhoun presenting a condensed history of political events from 1811 to 1843. [Largely written by himself.] Together with a selection from his speeches, reports, and other writings, etc. [With a portrait.] PDF](https://books.google.com/books/content/images/frontcover/60JiAAAAcAAJ?fife=w80-h100)
Author: John Caldwell CALHOUN
Author: John Caldwell Calhoun
Author: John Caldwell Calhoun
Author: R. M. T. Hunter
Author: 
Author: John Caldwell Calhoun
Author: Gustavus M. Pinckney
Author: Robert Elder
Author: Hermann Von Holst