Wikipedia Biographical Summary:

"...John Caldwell Calhoun March 18, 1782 – March 31, 1850) was a leading politician and political theorist from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century. Calhoun eloquently spoke out on every issue of his day, but often changed positions. Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent of a strong national government and protective tariffs. After 1830 he switched to states' rights, limited government, nullification and free trade. He is best known for his intense and original defense of slavery as something positive, his distrust of majoritarianism, and for pointing the South toward secession from the Union..."

"...Calhoun was born in 1782, the fourth child of Patrick Calhoun and his wife Martha Caldwell in Abbeville District, SC. His father had joined the Scotch Irish immigration from County Donegal to the backcountry of South Carolina.."

"...When his father became ill, 17-year-old John Calhoun quit school to work on the family farm. With his brothers' financial support, he later returned to his studies, earning a degree from Yale College, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1804. After studying law at the Tapping Reeve Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut, he was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1807.."

Marriage and Children

"...In January 1811, Calhoun married Floride Bonneau Calhoun, a first cousin once removed. The couple had 10 children over 18 years; three died in infancy:

1. Andrew Pickens Calhoun (1811–1865),
2. Floride Pure Calhoun (1814–1815),
3. Jane Calhoun (1816–1816),
4. Anna Maria Calhoun (1817–1875),
5. Elizabeth Calhoun (1819–1820),
6. Patrick Calhoun (1821–1858),
7. John Caldwell Calhoun, Jr. (1823–1855),
8. Martha Cornelia Calhoun (1824–1857),
9. James Edward Calhoun (1826–1861)
10. William Lowndes Calhoun (1829–1858).

His fourth child, Anna Maria, married Thomas Green Clemson, founder of Clemson University in South Carolina.

Political Career

"...In 1817, President James Monroe appointed Calhoun Secretary of War, where he served until 1825. .."

"...As secretary, Calhoun had responsibility for management of Indian affairs...He supervised the negotiation and ratification of 38 treaties with Indian tribes..."

"... Calhoun served four years under John Quincy Adams [as vice president], and then, in 1828, won re-election as Vice President running with Andrew Jackson..."

"...With his break with Jackson complete, in 1832, Calhoun ran for the Senate rather than continue as Vice President..."

"...Calhoun led the pro-slavery faction in the Senate in the 1830s and 1840s, opposing both abolitionism and attempts to limit the expansion of slavery into the western territories..."

"...After a one-year service as Secretary of State (April 1, 1844 – March 10, 1845), Calhoun returned to the Senate in 1845. He participated in the political struggle over the expansion of slavery in the Western states..."

"...Calhoun died in Washington, D.C., in March 1850 of tuberculosis at the age of sixty-eight. He was interred at the St. Philip's Church yard in Charleston, South Carolina in the section for non-members..."

SOURCE: Wikipedia contributors, 'John C. Calhoun', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 September 2012, 03:29 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_C._Calhoun&oldid=513964849> [accessed 7 October 2012]

links

1. Clan Colquhoun Lewin Dwinell McPherson, A.B., A.M., author of CALHOUN, HAMILTON, BASKIN AND RELATED FAMILIES, traces the genealogy out of Patrick Calhoun of Ulster, North of Ireland. All information on these pages was abstracted from said source.