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John C. Calhoun: A Biography
Examines Calhoun's childhood as an orphan, his actions during the War of 1812, and his political career
414 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
3 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
Irving H. Bartlett
10 books1 followerA graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, Irving Henry Bartlett obtained his master's and doctoral degrees at Brown University. He taught at Cape Cod Community College, the Rhode Island College of Education, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he was the John F. Kennedy Professor of American Civilization.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 27, 2020
In June of 2020, the city of Charleston, SC, took down the statue of the state's most famous political leader, John C. Calhoun. Though one of the leading political minds of the 19th century, Calhoun is better known today for his energetic defense of slavery. Against growing attacks by abolitionists, Calhoun argued that the South's peculiar institution wasn't just a regrettable necessity which would be too expensive or too dangerous to end. Calhoun went on the offensive, saying that slavery was the best social and economic relationship for both master and slave and a boon to republican society -- "a positive good."
And Calhoun's push for South Carolina to reject federal laws that it didn't like and oppose, by force if necessary, the national government's power to implement these laws in the state became the Nullification Crisis that prefigured the Civil War by thirty years.
Bartlett doesn't flinch from this aspect of Calhoun's reputation. But, ironically for a college professor from the capital of Yankeedom, Boston, and author of a book on abolitionists Wendell and Ann Phillips, Bartlett finds much to admire in the statesman known in his own time as the "cast iron man" for his lack of humor and bearing of Spartan virtue.
Actually, Calhoun was warmer and funnier back home on his plantation in the foothills of South Carolina than he was in Washington, DC, where he spent much of his adult life serving either in Congress or in the executive branch. But his persona as the lion of the Senate was no act, and Calhoun strove the be the genuine embodiment of republican virtue that he thought America needed.
Along with Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Kentucky's Henry Clay, Calhoun was one of the three perennial leaders who dominated the era between the founders and the Civil War. Deeper and more respected for his integrity than either Webster or Clay, nonetheless like them, Calhoun never managed to achieve his ambition to become president.
It's a fitting tribute that even leading abolitionists found Calhoun admirable for his unshakable commitment to preserving and extending slavery. While Clay and Webster attempted many compromises to keep North and South together, Calhoun remained the cast-iron defender of the planters of the South. Wendell Phillips, legendary for his abuse of pro-slavery politicians, called Calhoun "the pure, manly and uncompromising advocate of slavery; the Hector of a Troy fated to fall."
Bartlett's biography helps us get to know a man both valued and loathed by presidents. Calhoun guided James Monroe and John Quincy Adams, sparred with Andrew Jackson and towered over the party hacks and warmed over generals who, by occupying the White House, deprived Calhoun of the prize he wanted most: Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk and Taylor.
In today's age of one-dimensional history where figures from the past are summarily judged as either all good or all bad, Calhoun represents a challenge: a brilliant theorist of good government, a public servant genuinely devoted to his idea of republican virtue and a courageous defender of the rights of the minority, all ultimately in service to one of the worst institutions in American history, slavery.
Calhoun didn't just accept white supremacy. He argued stubbornly that the founders were wrong in declaring all men to be created equal. This claim again prefigured the Civil War, especially the famous "Cornerstone" speech a decade after Calhoun's death where Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens said the exact same thing.
For opposing the best part of the Declaration of Independence, statues of Calhoun in public places in Charleston and anyplace else should come down.
The cast-iron champion of slavery and nullification does not deserve to be honored as an American hero. However, the life and thought of Calhoun deserves wider attention outside the Palmetto State. Not only does Calhoun show how the American project can go wrong. He also shows how it can go right.
Not a simple story to understand these days. But for a reader willing to stretch their understanding of American history, Calhoun's story is worth learning.
And Calhoun's push for South Carolina to reject federal laws that it didn't like and oppose, by force if necessary, the national government's power to implement these laws in the state became the Nullification Crisis that prefigured the Civil War by thirty years.
Bartlett doesn't flinch from this aspect of Calhoun's reputation. But, ironically for a college professor from the capital of Yankeedom, Boston, and author of a book on abolitionists Wendell and Ann Phillips, Bartlett finds much to admire in the statesman known in his own time as the "cast iron man" for his lack of humor and bearing of Spartan virtue.
Actually, Calhoun was warmer and funnier back home on his plantation in the foothills of South Carolina than he was in Washington, DC, where he spent much of his adult life serving either in Congress or in the executive branch. But his persona as the lion of the Senate was no act, and Calhoun strove the be the genuine embodiment of republican virtue that he thought America needed.
Along with Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Kentucky's Henry Clay, Calhoun was one of the three perennial leaders who dominated the era between the founders and the Civil War. Deeper and more respected for his integrity than either Webster or Clay, nonetheless like them, Calhoun never managed to achieve his ambition to become president.
It's a fitting tribute that even leading abolitionists found Calhoun admirable for his unshakable commitment to preserving and extending slavery. While Clay and Webster attempted many compromises to keep North and South together, Calhoun remained the cast-iron defender of the planters of the South. Wendell Phillips, legendary for his abuse of pro-slavery politicians, called Calhoun "the pure, manly and uncompromising advocate of slavery; the Hector of a Troy fated to fall."
Bartlett's biography helps us get to know a man both valued and loathed by presidents. Calhoun guided James Monroe and John Quincy Adams, sparred with Andrew Jackson and towered over the party hacks and warmed over generals who, by occupying the White House, deprived Calhoun of the prize he wanted most: Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk and Taylor.
In today's age of one-dimensional history where figures from the past are summarily judged as either all good or all bad, Calhoun represents a challenge: a brilliant theorist of good government, a public servant genuinely devoted to his idea of republican virtue and a courageous defender of the rights of the minority, all ultimately in service to one of the worst institutions in American history, slavery.
Calhoun didn't just accept white supremacy. He argued stubbornly that the founders were wrong in declaring all men to be created equal. This claim again prefigured the Civil War, especially the famous "Cornerstone" speech a decade after Calhoun's death where Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens said the exact same thing.
For opposing the best part of the Declaration of Independence, statues of Calhoun in public places in Charleston and anyplace else should come down.
The cast-iron champion of slavery and nullification does not deserve to be honored as an American hero. However, the life and thought of Calhoun deserves wider attention outside the Palmetto State. Not only does Calhoun show how the American project can go wrong. He also shows how it can go right.
Not a simple story to understand these days. But for a reader willing to stretch their understanding of American history, Calhoun's story is worth learning.
January 24, 2019
After Andrew Jackson left the presidency in 1837 from that time until the Civil War the temper of the
country was not reflected in the White House so much as in Congress and the three legislative leaders
of respective sections. Daniel Webster of the north, Henry Clay of the west and John C. Calhoun of
the south. Of the three Calhoun is the least known probably. Yet he and his fellow Senators were
chosen as three of the five greatest to serve in the body.
Calhoun if known at all was a rigid defender of his section and what they called their peculiar institution, slavery. In the various plantations he owned and relatives owned he may have had slaves
running in the thousands. For him there was no moral issue involved, slaves drove the cotton economy of the region that was it. It was not always so with him.
Calhoun was not your typical image of the easy going mint julep drinking plantation owner. He was
comfortable in Charleston society, but his origins were from the back country where many Scotch-Irish Presbyterians settled. When Calhoun was born in 1782 they were still fighting the Indians in
that region. Take a look at him. His picture bespeaks a rather humorless man who was all about
work as was his upbringing. It was positively puritanical. He even got a Yankee education at Yale.
When he came to Congress in 1811 he and Henry Clay both were among that group known as war
hawks who were hot to trot to go to war against Great Britain and grab Canada. They got their
wish in 1812 and five years later Calhoun was in James Monroe's Cabinet as Secretary of War. He
was 35 and 8 years later at 43 he became Vice President as the House of Representatives chose
John Quincy Adams as President. Calhoun opposed Adams as by now he was identified with the
south and got re-elected Vice President with Andrew Jackson at the top. One of two men to be
Vice President under two presidents.
Calhoun's ambitions were checked permanently with two things the Peggy O'Neal Eaton affair where Jackson purged his Cabinet because Cabinet wives snubbed Ms. Eaton regarding her as little
more than a trollope. Mrs. Floride Calhoun led the snubbing. Jackson defended Peggy like it was
his own daughter. Secondly because South Carolina threatened secession over the high tariff.
Calhoun advocated the high tariff back in his days in Monroe's Cabinet. But with little industries
in South Carolina and the rest of Dixie the tariff was seen as a Yankee plot to keep the south in
economic servility. Jackson was no high tariff man, but he would not countenance secession and
drew a line in the sand.
No one ever said Calhoun was stupid and to justify his position he drew up this theory in a published essay about the nature of the union being 'concurrent majorities'. A state could opt out
of obeying a federal law if it thought it was bad for the region. No permanent majority could keep
a people or a region in permanent minority status. And constitutionality was determined by state
conventions and if 3/4 of them said a law was unconstitutional the hell with the Supreme Court.
It made him the south's unofficial leader, but it killed him nationally and he went to the Senate
from South Carolina after Jackson dumped him as Vice President.
He was in the Senate for most of the rest of his life save for a stint as Secretary of State under John
Tyler where he did the deal that got us Texas. The Mexican War oddly enough which came out of
our annexation of Texas Calhoun opposed. He died in 1850 defending the southern interest as
regard to all the new territory the War with Mexico brought us.
Calhoun as a vigorous defender of slavery is not a popular figure today except maybe with hardcore
supporters of our president. Yet he's a fascinating if somewhat forbidding figure.
country was not reflected in the White House so much as in Congress and the three legislative leaders
of respective sections. Daniel Webster of the north, Henry Clay of the west and John C. Calhoun of
the south. Of the three Calhoun is the least known probably. Yet he and his fellow Senators were
chosen as three of the five greatest to serve in the body.
Calhoun if known at all was a rigid defender of his section and what they called their peculiar institution, slavery. In the various plantations he owned and relatives owned he may have had slaves
running in the thousands. For him there was no moral issue involved, slaves drove the cotton economy of the region that was it. It was not always so with him.
Calhoun was not your typical image of the easy going mint julep drinking plantation owner. He was
comfortable in Charleston society, but his origins were from the back country where many Scotch-Irish Presbyterians settled. When Calhoun was born in 1782 they were still fighting the Indians in
that region. Take a look at him. His picture bespeaks a rather humorless man who was all about
work as was his upbringing. It was positively puritanical. He even got a Yankee education at Yale.
When he came to Congress in 1811 he and Henry Clay both were among that group known as war
hawks who were hot to trot to go to war against Great Britain and grab Canada. They got their
wish in 1812 and five years later Calhoun was in James Monroe's Cabinet as Secretary of War. He
was 35 and 8 years later at 43 he became Vice President as the House of Representatives chose
John Quincy Adams as President. Calhoun opposed Adams as by now he was identified with the
south and got re-elected Vice President with Andrew Jackson at the top. One of two men to be
Vice President under two presidents.
Calhoun's ambitions were checked permanently with two things the Peggy O'Neal Eaton affair where Jackson purged his Cabinet because Cabinet wives snubbed Ms. Eaton regarding her as little
more than a trollope. Mrs. Floride Calhoun led the snubbing. Jackson defended Peggy like it was
his own daughter. Secondly because South Carolina threatened secession over the high tariff.
Calhoun advocated the high tariff back in his days in Monroe's Cabinet. But with little industries
in South Carolina and the rest of Dixie the tariff was seen as a Yankee plot to keep the south in
economic servility. Jackson was no high tariff man, but he would not countenance secession and
drew a line in the sand.
No one ever said Calhoun was stupid and to justify his position he drew up this theory in a published essay about the nature of the union being 'concurrent majorities'. A state could opt out
of obeying a federal law if it thought it was bad for the region. No permanent majority could keep
a people or a region in permanent minority status. And constitutionality was determined by state
conventions and if 3/4 of them said a law was unconstitutional the hell with the Supreme Court.
It made him the south's unofficial leader, but it killed him nationally and he went to the Senate
from South Carolina after Jackson dumped him as Vice President.
He was in the Senate for most of the rest of his life save for a stint as Secretary of State under John
Tyler where he did the deal that got us Texas. The Mexican War oddly enough which came out of
our annexation of Texas Calhoun opposed. He died in 1850 defending the southern interest as
regard to all the new territory the War with Mexico brought us.
Calhoun as a vigorous defender of slavery is not a popular figure today except maybe with hardcore
supporters of our president. Yet he's a fascinating if somewhat forbidding figure.
September 16, 2018
John Calhoun is often referred to as "the Jefferson of the Confederacy," for laying the groundwork for the CSA secession in 1860.
Author Irving Bartlett writes an interesting biography of a devisive figure. The book contains enough misspellings for the reader to notice every few pages. It seems that the book was either not edited or the editor was inexperienced and negligant at their job.
Calhoun has very little data on his childhood and early congressional years. Most of the data is taken from impersonal correspondances and an autobiography written in 1842. This gives the impression of a fictional character rather than someone who is real.
With that said, what has been left behind on Calhouns character, is one of a traitor, and racist white supremacist. While the author tries to create a hero out of Calhoun, it's hard to present Calhoun in any other light than the way he carried himself.
At a time when most Americans were either actively fighting for abolition, in support of the abolition, or for slave-holders like Clay and Zachary Talor who recognized the futility of the system of slavery, Calhoun was a slave owner who was dead set on maintaining the system of ownership of people. He tried to pass legislation and write political treatises on states rights, but most of his deductive reasoning and political arguments are based solely on his desire to own people.
Unlike the founding fathers who owned slaves, Calhoun actively fought to justify slavery on moral, ethical, historical, and scientific grounds the likes of which would affect African Americans up to the 20th and arguably the 21st centuries.
With that all said, Calhoun had a knack for being not only a politician, but a statesman. For all his legislative and executive success (passing anti-tariff laws, helping to successfully annex Texas), it would appear that America was lucky never to have Calhoun in the seat of such power as that wielded by the President.
Author Irving Bartlett writes an interesting biography of a devisive figure. The book contains enough misspellings for the reader to notice every few pages. It seems that the book was either not edited or the editor was inexperienced and negligant at their job.
Calhoun has very little data on his childhood and early congressional years. Most of the data is taken from impersonal correspondances and an autobiography written in 1842. This gives the impression of a fictional character rather than someone who is real.
With that said, what has been left behind on Calhouns character, is one of a traitor, and racist white supremacist. While the author tries to create a hero out of Calhoun, it's hard to present Calhoun in any other light than the way he carried himself.
At a time when most Americans were either actively fighting for abolition, in support of the abolition, or for slave-holders like Clay and Zachary Talor who recognized the futility of the system of slavery, Calhoun was a slave owner who was dead set on maintaining the system of ownership of people. He tried to pass legislation and write political treatises on states rights, but most of his deductive reasoning and political arguments are based solely on his desire to own people.
Unlike the founding fathers who owned slaves, Calhoun actively fought to justify slavery on moral, ethical, historical, and scientific grounds the likes of which would affect African Americans up to the 20th and arguably the 21st centuries.
With that all said, Calhoun had a knack for being not only a politician, but a statesman. For all his legislative and executive success (passing anti-tariff laws, helping to successfully annex Texas), it would appear that America was lucky never to have Calhoun in the seat of such power as that wielded by the President.
February 7, 2019
Considering what a large political force John C. Calhoun played in the interval 1820-1850 one would have thought a book to that mirrored his great stature would have been written. Alas, I was sorely disappointed. While I disagree with much of Calhoun's beliefs and politics, he was one of three people who dominated U.S. Politics during this interval in our nation's history. As a U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator and Vice-President, Calhoun was kept busy during this tumultuous period just prior to the Civil War. Calhoun was the South's spokesman for state's rights and slavery and was a dominant and powerful voice wherever he was. His views became the South's views when they seceded from the Union in 1861. I was disappointed this biography was not as large as the man whose book bears his name.
August 26, 2023
If you enjoy reading American history of this era, you will find this to be a well written endeavor of the author and a productive enterprise for you to read. It’s a narrow market, but it serves that market well.
September 20, 2009
This biography does a decent job of detailing Calhoun's background and accomplishments and paints an interesting picture of his mindset and personality. The writing is reasonable, but not as engaging as it could be (although my judgement may be clouded by comparing this book to the last one I read, which was the truly excellent bio of Henry Clay by Remini.)
I was surprised (and impressed) to learn that Calhoun was very much a man of principle, and that he valued issues and not party tactics; he wanted to win because he proved to America that he was *right*, not because he was popular (which he never truly was). Unfortunately, it's hard to get that enthusiastic about someone who was as fanatically pro-slavery and states' rights as Calhoun. I came away with a better understanding of why he supported these two ultimately flawed positions, but that's not quite enough to mark him as someone I can truly respect.
I was surprised (and impressed) to learn that Calhoun was very much a man of principle, and that he valued issues and not party tactics; he wanted to win because he proved to America that he was *right*, not because he was popular (which he never truly was). Unfortunately, it's hard to get that enthusiastic about someone who was as fanatically pro-slavery and states' rights as Calhoun. I came away with a better understanding of why he supported these two ultimately flawed positions, but that's not quite enough to mark him as someone I can truly respect.
November 21, 2007
Not sure if this is the right author, but I do remember the book title. Good insight into the life of a man hated by many and loved for his politics.
July 1, 2012
3 1/2 stars. Good! A great place to start to get introduced to Calhoun. But, I aspire to do better by the subject in the future.
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December 22, 2018Yes, Calhoun was a slave holder, which got his name removed from Yale recently. Who was Calhoun? From 1810-1850, Calhoun played an increasing role in the US government including serving at Vice President and Secretary of State. What is interesting and important about Calhoun is that he was an expert on the Constitution which he used to define his beliefs that Jackson's policies were bad, the tariff was so bad that South Carolina had the right to secede and more. He was against the Mexican-American War when most politicians were for it.
This was an ok bio. A little on the hero worship side. It did delve into the slave holding and tried to show that he was a benevolent master. This was written before the backlash began, so how the bio would be written today would be interesting.
This was an ok bio. A little on the hero worship side. It did delve into the slave holding and tried to show that he was a benevolent master. This was written before the backlash began, so how the bio would be written today would be interesting.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews