Title

John C. Calhoun : a biography

Description

In this important and highly readable biography of John C. Calhoun, Irving Bartlett sees a man almost unique in American history, a lifelong politician who was also a profound political philosopher. Born on the South Carolina frontier, Calhoun grew up in a postrevolutionary culture which valued both African slavery and the republican ideology of the Founding Fathers. He was orphaned in his teens and, with almost no formal education, suddenly became a man. In less than ten years he had become a Yale graduate, a lawyer, a former state legislator, and a congressman-elect prepared to help James Madison lead the country into the War of 1812. As a congressman and later as James Monroe's secretary of war Calhoun articulated the nationalism of the new nation as cogently as any other American leader. Calhoun was ambitious beyond his years. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the disputed presidential election of 1824 but was easily elected vice president under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Determined to avoid the obscurity of that office, Calhoun managed to get into monumental public disputes with both presidents and resigned in the last days of Jackson's first administration to become senator from South Carolina and champion his state's right to nullify the Tariff of 1832. Along with his famous contemporaries Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, Calhoun dominated the Senate of the United States in the 1830s and 1840s. Serving briefly as secretary of state in the beleaguered Tyler administration, he played a key role in the annexation of Texas and created a furor on both sides of the Atlantic with his strident defense of American slavery and his denunciation of what he perceived as the pseudophilanthropy of British abolitionism. Returning to the Senate, he acted as peacemaker in helping avoid a near war with Britain over the Oregon boundary dispute, and he persistently opposed the popular Mexican War. Long before his death in 1850 Calhoun had become known as the cast-iron leader of the South, who never curried to popular opinion, spurned party loyalty, and defended slavery and states' rights with a vigor and intelligence that even leading abolitionists had to respect. In this major new biography Irving Bartlett goes behind the cast-iron image to explain the cultural and psychological forces that shaped Calhoun's political career and thought; he maintains that however wrong Calhoun was about slavery, many of his ideas still speak to us today.

Identifier

508226

393034763

Creator

Bartlett, Irving H

Format

1st ed.

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

1993

Program air date: September 18, 1994.

Publisher

W.W. Norton & Co.

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Text

Transcription of Annotations
Notes on front endpapers: Believed in a strong union. Born March 18, 1782, died March 31, 1850 68 yrs. Old. Moses Waddel's library p. 39 (Catherine, John's sister's wife). Yale 1802 6 ft 2 inches. Oct 1808-elected to S.C. House--served 2 sessions. 1811 Married-Floride he 28, she 18-2nd cousins. 1810 Nov--elected to US House took seat Nov. 6, 1811 (29 years old). 1815 daughter dies. War of 1812 over. 1816-daughter Jane born/dies. Feb. 1817 daughter Anna Maria born. Oct 1817 Monroe Sec. of War--served for 8 yrs. Spent 14 hours a day in his office. Andrew Jackson. Adams elected Pres 1824, Calhoun V.P. Tariff-1816 1827 Larry Smith re-elected from S.C. to Senate. Underlinings/notes: 4 chapter titles underlined on contents page. Underlinings: Prologue Lamb underlines account of G.W. Featherstonhaugh, a British traveler, and Calhoun--a perfect gentleman. Calhoun's education, career, family (black and white), republicanism of his father, death of parents, and experiences at Yale which included being provoked by Timothy Dwight. Charleston slave capital of Western World. Myth of Calhoun as Lincoln's father. Lamb notes Calhoun's marriage to his cousin Floride and election to the House of Representatives, births/deaths of children, political views, relationship with other members of congress and his move to Sec. of War. Relationship with Jackson. Candidacy for President --wins VP slot. Eaton affair. States rights/slavery, family troubles, life/management of homes. Notes: "Patrick C. 31 slaves," "a good republican," "Patrick died when John was 13," "Federal right to tax," "J.C. 4th youngest of 5," "Reading after father's death," "Yale a Junior 1802," "Rice and slaves and Charleston 40% entered," "admitted to bar 1807," "Wedding 1811 John 28, Floride 18," "1810 US House," "Presbyterian no theater," "6 years in House," "British burned WASH Aug 1814," "3 duels," "14 years, 8 children, 5 lived, 2 more sons 1826, 1829," "Peggy O'Neill."

Subject

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

"United States. Congress. Senate--Biography."

"Legislators--United States--Biography."

Relation

Original Booknotes interview

Rights

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