John Caldwell Calhoun was born March 18, 1782, the son of Patrick Calhoun
and Margaret Caldwell. The place of his birth was then called Abbeville
District, near Calhoun Mills, but is known today as Mount McCormick in
McCormick County, South Carolina. His father was a slave holder,
having more than a dozen slaves on his plantation. It is probably no surprise,
therefore, that John would grow up as a pro-slavery politician.
John attended and graduated from Yale University in 1804. His studies continued in the field of law and he was admitted to the bar in 1807 and began practice in Abbeville, SC. He became a member of the state House of Representatives, serving from 1808 to 1809. He married Floride Bouneau in 1811 and eventually had nine children. He was elected (as a Republican) to the US Congress and served from March 4, 1811 through November 3, 1817, when he resigned to serve as Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President James Monroe, 1817-1825.
He desired to succeed Pres. Monroe to the Presidency, but when support proved to be insufficient, ran as Vice President and served in that position under John Quincy Adams. In 1828, he was re-elected to that position with Andrew Jackson and served until December, 1828, when he retired. Several reasons for his retirement are suggested. But it would seem that he had wanted to have more of an influence as Vice President but had been unable to affect legislation concerning the enactment of tariffs (John was in favor of high tariffs as a form of protectionism). When Robert Y. Hayne (Senator, South Carolina) resigned, John saw a chance to leave the Presidency and filled that vacated position from December 29, 1832 until he again resigned effective March 3, 1843.
He served as Secretary of State in the cabinet of John Tyler from 1844-1845. Again elected to the United States Senate, he served from November 26, 1845 until his death on March 31, 1850.
John Caldwell Calhoun was a very outspoken individual with definite
political ideas, though those did seem subject to adjustment from time
to time. In 1957, the United States Senate voted him one of the five
greatest US Senators of all time. No less than eleven states now
have counties named in honor of Mr. Calhoun and a life size statue
of him can be found in the east central hall of the National Statuary Hall
in Washington, D.C.
John Caldwell Calhoun was apparently very proud of his Caldwell heritage, and is reported to have had in his possession, a copy of the history of the Caldwell name.
-To see a picture of that statue
of John C. Calhoun .