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Author's Preface

For about forty years, Mr. Calhoun was one of the most prominent statesmen in the American Union, and during that long period their history is woven together. No important question was agitated since he first entered Congress in which he did not participate or with which he was not in some way or other connected. His biography, therefore, if told aright should be full of interest to the American reader.

I have been aware of the difficulties and embarrassments in the way of preparing a memoir that would be acceptable to both of the parties occupying extreme grounds on the sectional question with which Mr. Calhoun was identified. It has been my aim, however, to present all things truly; and, having done this, to rely upon the generous kindness of the public. . . .

Mr. Calhoun was emphatically a great man, — a model statesman, — one of those who visit us, like angels, " few and far between." He lived in eventful times, and his history is full of important incidents. A minute account, therefore, of the details of his life would require a much larger volume than the present. But it is the design of this work to exhibit his character with sufficient distinctness to satisfy

12 AUTHOR S PREFACE

the general reader and faithfully to represent his course and position with reference to the important questions that arose during his public career. . . . No apology need be offered for occupying so large a space with the history of Nullification. It was the great episode in the life of Mr. Calhoun, and the principle of State interposition, or State veto, was very dear to him. " If you should ask me the word," said he, " that I would wish engraven on my tombstone, it is Nullification.""

Chapter I

Ancestors. — His Father. — Characteristic Traits. — His Birth.

The paternal ancestors of Mr. Calhoun came originally from Ireland, that fruitful hive from which sprung most of the early inhabitants of the eastern slopes of the Alleghany Mountains. His grandfather emigrated with his family to Pennsylvania in the year 1733; they afterward removed to Virginia, and in 1756 finally established themselves permanently in the province of South Carolina, near the base of the Blue Ridge, and in the fine healthy region drained by the tributaries of the Savannah River.

His father, Patrick Calhoun, was born in Donegal, but was a mere child when the family left Ireland. Accustomed from his earliest years to sights and scenes well calculated to heighten the natural daring of his spirit, and to render him courageous and selfreliant; familiar with hardship and privation, with war and bloodshed; he was distinguished for his boldness and intrepidity, his determined energy, and his manly independence, — traits which were reproduced and reexemplified in the life and character of

^3 his distinguished son. The family were driven from their temporary home in Virginia by the hordes of ruthless savages let loose upon the frontier settlements in consequence of the defeat of Braddock, and in the hostile encounters that took place previous to their removal, Patrick was old enough to take a prominent part. He subsequently participated in the frequent skirmishes between the white settlers of South Carohna and the Cherokee Indians previous to and during the Revolution. For a long time he commanded a company of rangers, who did good service in keeping off the marauders that hovered upon the borders of the infant colpnj, seeking an opportunity to plunder and destroy.

His occupation was that of a farmer or planter, and he resided upon and cultivated the same place where his father's family first settled, and which now belongs to the heirs of his youngest son. He was married in 1770 to a young lady, whose maiden name was Caldwell, and who was a native of Charlotte County, Virginia. Her father was a Scotch- Irish Presbvterian, and was one of the founders of the settlement on Cub Creek.

The elder Air. Calhoun was an industrious and enterprising citizen. To great natural shrewdness he added an inquiring disposition, and a boldness and independence of sentiment that were rarely imitated. He thought, and spoke, and acted for himself. He was a Whig in principle long before the Revolution, and when the crisis came, he did not hesitate publicly to make profession of " the faith that was in him." He battled manfully against the Tories; he contended with them in speech ; and at the head of his rangers aided essentially in putting them down with the strong hand. Both the Caldwells and the Calhouns were active and zealous Whigs. As such, they were the peculiar objects of the red man's hate and the Tory's vengeance.

Patrick Calhoun was a man of entire self-confidence and great independence of opinion and of character. He once appeared as his own advocate in a case in Virginia, in which he recovered a tract of land in despite of the regularly-trained disputants, who sought to embarrass and defeat him. He opposed the Federal Constitution, because, as he said, it permitted other people than those of South Carolina to tax the people of South Carolina, and thus allowed taxation without representation, which was a violation of the fundamental principle of the revolutionary struggle.

" We have heard his son say," writes a biographer of John C. Calhoun, " that among his earliest recollections was one of a conversation when he was nine years of age, in which his father maintained that government to be best which allowed the largest amount of individual liberty compatible with social order and tranquillity, and insisted that the improvements in political science would be found to consist in throwing off many of the restraints then imposed by law, and deemed necessary to an organized society. It may well be supposed that his son John was an attentive and eager auditor, and such lessons as these must doubtless have served to encourage that free spirit of inquiry, and that intrepid zeal for truth, for which he has been so much distinguished. The mode of thinking which was thus encouraged may, perhaps, have compensated in some degree for the want of those early advantages which are generally deemed indispensable to great intellectual progress.

Patrick Calhoun died in 1795. His wife was a woman of rare excellence, whose many virtues endeared her to all that knew her, and are still held in grateful remembrance by those who witnessed the evidences of her worth and profited by her kindness. They had five children, four sons and a daughter, of whom John Caldw^ell Calhoun was the youngest save one. He was born in Abbeville District, South Carolina, at the residence of his father, on the i8th of March, 1782, and was named after his maternal uncle, Major John Caldwell, who was murdered by the Tories.

Chapter II

Education. — Professional Reputation. — Politics. — State Legislature. — Congress.

Born and nurtured amid the closing scenes of the Revohition, and when its dying thunders were still heard faintly echoing in the distance, the stirring incidents of that protracted contest, and the legends and traditions of border warfare, were among the first and earliest recollections of young Calhoun. They were often recounted in his hearing, and left their impress upon his character, in its sternness, and what might almost be called its harshness. He inherited, too, from his father, the active energy, firmness and determination, that characterized him, and from his mother's family, their ardency of feeling, and their high-toned and impulsive enthusiasm. When a lad he was remarked for his thoughtful disposition, his quickness of apprehension, his decision of character, and his steady and untiring perseverance in the accomplishment of any plan he had conceived, or in the pursuit of any object which he desired to secure.

Mr. Calhoun was indebted for the most part to his father and mother for the information acquired in his youth. There were few or no schools in the sparsely settled district where they resided, and the only branches of education taught in them were reading, writing, and arithmetic. When he was old enough they sent him to an ordinary country school, at which he learned all that his teacher could communicate. These draughts from the fountain, turbid though it was, created a thirst for more ; but as there was not a single academy in the whole upper region of the State, and none within fifty miles, except in Columbia County, Georgia, of which Mr. Waddell, a Presbyterian clergyman who had married his sister, was the principal.

At the age of thirteen he was placed under the care of his brother-in-law, and commenced a course of study in the higher branches. He had but just made a beginning in this new occupation, with which he was perfectly delighted, when the death of his father took place. His sister shortly after died, and Mr. Waddell immediately discontinued his academy. John continued to reside with his brother-in-law ; but as the latter was absent for the greater part of the time, engaged in the performance of clerical duties, he was left to depend upon his own resources for amusement. The plantation was in a remote district, and he had not a single white companion, with the exception, at intervals, of Mr. Waddell, and an occasional visitor.

His brother-in-law was the librarian of a small circulating library, and to this he at once resorted. Rollin's " Ancient History," Robertson's " Life of Charles V." and " History of America," and a translation of Voltaire's " Charles XH." first attracted his attention. Having despatched these volumes, he took up the large edition of Cook's " Voyages," Brown's " Essays," and Locke on the " Understanding," the last of which he was unable to finish, for the reason that he had already overtasked his strength.

" All this was the work of but fourteen weeks. So intense was his application that his eyes became seriously affected, his countenance pallid, and his frame emaciated. His mother, alarmed at the intelligence of his health, sent for him home, where exercise and amusement soon restored his strength, and he acquired a fondness for hunting, fishing, and other country sports. Four years passed away in these pursuits, and in attention to the business of the farm while his elder brothers were absent, to the entire neglect of his education.

" About this time an incident occurred upon which turned his after life. His second brother, James, who had been placed at a counting-house in Charleston, returned to spend the summer of 1800 at home. John had determined to become a planter ; but James, objecting to this, strongly urged him to acquire a good education, and pursue one of the learned professions. He replied that he was not averse to the course advised, but there were two difficulties in the way: one was to obtain the assent of his mother, without which he could not think of leaving her, and the other was the want of means. His property was small, and his resolution fixed : he would far rather be a planter than a half-informed physician or lawyer. With this determination, he could not bring his mind to select either without ample preparation ; but if the consent of their mother should be freely given, and he (James) thought he could so manage his property as to keep him in funds for seven years of study, preparatory to entering his profession, he would leave home and commence his education the next week. His mother and brother agreeing to his conditions, he accordingly left home the next week for the school of Dr. Waddell, who had married again, and resumed his academy in Columbia County, Georgia. This was in June, 1800, in the beginning of his nineteenth year, at which time it may be said he commenced his education, his tuition having been previously very imperfect, and confined to reading, writing, and arithmetic, in an ordinary country school. His progress here was so rapid that in two years he entered the junior class of Yale College, and graduated with distinction in 1804, just four years from the time he commenced his Latin grammar. He was highly esteemed by Dr. Dwight, then the president of the college, although they differed widely in politics, and at a time when political feelings were intensely bitter. The doctor was an ardent Federalist, and Mr. Calhoun was one of a very few, in a class of more than seventy, who had the firmness openly to avow and maintain the opinions of the Republican party, and, among others, that the people were the only legitimate source of political power. Dr. Dwight entertained a different opinion. In a recitation during the senior year, on the chapter in " Politics " in Paley's " Moral Philosophy," the doctor, with the intention of eliciting his opinion, propounded to Mr. Calhoun the question as to the legitim.ate source of power.

He did not decline an open and direct avowal of his opinion. A discussion ensued between them, which exhausted the time allotted for the recitation, and in which the pupil maintained his opinions with such vigor of argument and success, as to elicit from his distinguished teacher the declaration, in speaking of him to a friend, that the young man had talent enough to be President of the United States, which he accompanied by a prediction that he would one day attain that station." *

At the commencenient, an English oration was assigned to Mr. Calhoun. The subject which he selected was — '' The qualifications necessary to constitute a perfect statesman" — from which it may be inferred that he had already set his heart upon a political career, and that he loved to contemplate that beau ideal in statesmanship, wdiich he afterward attempted to illustrate in his own career. Having taken his degree, he commenced the study of the law, which he regarded as the stepping-stone to the higher position at which he aimed. He spent three years in his legal studies, and in miscellaneous reading. For about half this time, he attended the celebrated law school at Litchfield, Connecticut, under the charge of Judge Reeve and Mr. Gould, at which so many of the most eminent members of the profession in the Northern and Southern States received their legal education. At this school he acquired and maintained a high reputation for ability and application, and in the debating society formed among its members, he successfully cultivated his talents for

* Biographical Sketch of Mr. Calhoun, 1843.

extemporary speaking, and in this respect is admitted to have excelled all his associates.

On leaving Litchfield, Mr. Calhoun repaired to Charleston, and entered the office of Mr. De Saussure, subsequently Chancellor of South Carolina, in order to familiarize himself with the statute laws of his State, and the practice of the courts. In the office of Mr. De Saussure, and of Mr. George Bowie, of Abbeville, he completed his studies. He then presented himself for examination, was duly admitted to the bar in 1807, and commenced practice in the Abbeville District. He immediately took a place in the front rank of his profession, among the ablest and most experienced of its members.

'* While he was yet a student," says the memoir before cjuoted, '' after his return from Litchfield to Abbeville, an incident occurred which agitated the whole Union, and contributed to give to Mr. Calhoun's life, at that early period, the political direction which it has ever since kept — the attack of the English frigate Leopard on the American frigate Chesapeake. It led to public meetings all over the Union, in which resolutions were passed expressive of the indignation of the people, and their firm resolve to stand by the government in whatever measure it might think proper to adopt to redress the outrage. At that called in his native district, he was appointed one of the committee to prepare a report and resolutions to be presented to a meeting to be convened to receive them on an appointed day. Mr. Calhoun was requested by the committee to prepare them, which he did so much to their satisfaction that he was appointed to address the meeting on the occasion before the vote was taken on the resolutions. The meeting w^as large, and it was the first time he had ever appeared before the public. He acquitted himself with such success that his name was presented as a candidate for the State Legislature at the next election. He was elected at the head of the ticket, and at a time when the prejudice against lawyers was so strong in the district that no one of the profession who had offered for many years previously had ever succeeded. This was the commencement of his political life, and the first evidence he ever received of the confidence of the people of the State — a confidence which has continued ever since constantly increasing, without interruption or reaction, for the third of a century ; and which, for its duration, universality, and strength may almost be said to be without a parallel in any other State, or in the case of any other public man.

" He served two sessions in the State Legislature. It was not long after he took his seat before he distinguished himself. Early in the session an informal meeting of the Republican portion of the members was called to nominate candidates for the places of President and Vice-President of the United States. Mr. Madison was nominated for the presidency without opposition. When the nomination for the vice-presidency was presented, Mr. Calhoun embraced the occasion to present his opinion in reference to coming events, as bearing on the nomination. He reviewed the state of the relations between the LTnited States and Great Britain and France, the two great belligerents which were then struggling for mastery, and in their struggle trampling on the rights of neutrals, and especially ours ; he touched on the restrictive system which had been resorted to by the government to protect our rights, and expressed his doubt of its efficacy, and the conviction that a war with Great Britain would be unavoidable. ' It was,' lie said, ' in this state of things, of the utmost importance that the ranks of the Republican party should be preserved undisturbed and unbroken by faction or discord.' He then adverted to the fact that a discontented portion of the party had given unequivocal evidence of rallying round the name of the venerable vice-president, George Clinton (whose re-nomination was proposed), and of whom he spoke highly ; but he gave it as his opinion, that sliould he be nominated and reelected, he would become the nucleus of all the discontented portion of the party, and thus make a formidable division in its ranks should the country be forced into war. These persons, he predicted, would ultimately rally under De Witt Clinton, the nephew, whom he described as a man of distinguished talents and aspiring disposition. To avoid the danger, he suggested for nomination the name of John Langdon, of New Hampshire, of whom he spoke highly both as to talents and patriotism.

'' It was Mr. Calhoun's first effort in a public capacity. The manner and matter excited great applause ; and when it is recollected that these remarks preceded the declaration of war more than three years, and how events happened according to his anticipations, it affords a strikingf proof of that sagacity, at so early a period, for which he was afterwards so much distinguished. It at once gave him a stand among the most distinguished members of the Legislature. During the short period he remained a member, he originated and carried through several measures, which proved in practice to be salutary, and have become a permanent portion of the legislation of the State."

As is well known, the members of the twelfth Congress were generally selected with particular reference to the apprehended war with Great Britain. The prominent stand taken by Mr. Calhoun in the Legislature had drawn public attention to him, and the Republicans of his congressional district demanded his selection as their representative. He accordingly presented himself before the people for their suffrages, and in the fall of 1810 was elected by a triumphant majority over his opponent.

Chapter III

In the House of Representatives. — Support of Madison's Administration. — The Restrictive System.

The first session of the twelfth Congress commenced on the 4th day of November, 181 1, — the two Houses having been cahed together, by executive proclamation, in advance of the regular day fixed upon by law for the commencement of the session, on account of the threatening aspect of affairs. Mr. Calhoun took his seat in the House of Representatives at the opening of the session. He was still a young man, being only in his thirtieth year, but he was not entirely unknown even among the many distinguished members of the House. His talents and the zeal and ability which he had often manifested in defending the administration, and advocating decisive measures of resistance in opposition to the grasping policy of Great Britain, induced his appointment by the then Si)eaker, Henry Clay, to the second place on the Committee of h^oreign Affairs. The chairman of the committee was Peter B. Porter, of New York.

Mr. Calhoun's debut as a speaker was made on the

19th of December, 181 1, during the debate on the

resolutions reported from the committee oi which he

was a member, in the month of November previous,

authorizing immediate and active ])reparations for

war. Able speeches in behalf of the resolutions had already been delivered by Mr. Porter and Mr. Grundy, and it devolved on Mr. Calhoun to reply to the tirade of abuse and invective which the eloquent and versatile John Randolph had poured out on the policy shadowed forth in the resolutions.

Among his associates in the House of Representatives were many of the ablest men in the nation, who had either already become distinguished, or were advancing with rapid strides on the road to greatness. '' In all the Congresses with which I have had any acquaintance since my entry into the service of the federal government," said Mr. Clay, — '' in none, in my opinion, has been assembled such a galaxy of eminent and able men as were those Congresses which declared the war, and which immediately followed the peace." * First and foremost among them was the Speaker himself — Henry Clay, of Kentucky — the eloquent and impassioned orator; and beside him there were James Fisk of Vermont, the honest and independent ; Peter B. Porter, of New York, the chivalrous and high-minded ; John Randolph, the talented and eccentric; Langdon Cheves and William Lowndes, the eminent and able colleagues of Mr. Calhoun; Felix Grundy, of Tennessee, the skilful debater; Nathaniel Macon, the independent and fearless, but often impracticable politician; Josiah Quincy, of Massachusetts, the accomplished but vindictive partisan ; and Timothy Pitkin, of Connecticut, the industrious and conscientious.

The maiden effort of Mr. Calhoun was not mere-

* Remarks of Mr. Clay in the U. S. Senate, April i, 1850.

ly well received. Expressions of approbation were heard on every side, and it was as generally commended for its ability and eloquence, as for the patriotism of its sentiments. In allusion to this speech, and to the arguments offered in reply to Mr. Randolph, the experienced editor of the Richmond Enquirer, Thomas Ritchie, with much justice remarked : " Mr. Calhoun is clear and precise in his reasoning, marching up directly to the object of his attack, and felling down the errors of his opponent with the club of Hercules; not eloquent in his tropes and figures, but, like Fox, in the moral elevation of his sentiments; free from personality, yet full of those fine touches of indignation, which are the severest cut to a man of feeling. His speech, like a fine drawing, abounds in those lights and shades which set off each other: the cause of his country is lobed in light, while her opponents are wrapped in darkness. It were a contracted wish that Mr. Calhoun were a Virginian ; though, after the quota she has furnished with opposition talent, such a wish might be forgiven us. We beg leave to participate, as Americans and friends of our country, in the honors of South Carolina. We hail this young Carolinian as one of the master-spirits who stamp their names upon the age in which they live."

Having made one successful effort, Mr. Calhoun did not sit down in inglorious ease to repose on the laurels he had gained, but with increased ardor and eagerness pressed forAvard in the race.

Republican principles were firmly rooted in the mind of Mr. Calhoun, — too firmlv for him to be swerved from maintaining them, as he thought, in their pristine vigor and purity, by any considerations of mere party expediency. Nature never designed him for a partisan. He professed to belong to the Repubhcan party, and supported its measures, where he did not regard them as conflicting with its principles, in all honesty and faith.

At an early period in his first session he acquired a highly honorable reputation for his fearless and independent conduct; and this he never lost even amid the many trying scenes of his subsequent life.

To the administration of Mr. Madison he in the main yielded a cordial and hearty support, not because he was attracted or awed by the influence of power, or seduced by the blandishments of executive favqr and patronage, but simply for the reason that all i ;s more prominent measures accorded with his own convictions and opinions with respect to the true policy of the country. Encouraged by the animating eloquence of Mr. Calhoun, — of Mr. Clay, Mr. Porter, and Mr. Grundy, — a bolder and more defiant tone was assumed by the Republican members of Congress at the session of 1811-12. Bills providing for the enlistment of twenty thousand men in the regular army ; for repairing and equipping the frigates in ordinary and building new vessels ; authorizing the President to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers ; and requiring the executives of the several States and territories to hold their respective quotas of one hundred thousand men fully organized, armed and equipped, in readiness to march at a moment's warning, were duly passed with the approbation and vote of Mr. Calhoun ; and in June, 1812, with the whole delegation from South Carolina, he supported the declaration of war.

In regard to the non-importation and embargo acts, or what is generally known as the restrictive system, Mr. Calhoun differed from the administration and from a great majority of his political friends. He opposed with great earnestness the continuance of the system, and in a speech distinguished by all the traits peculiar to his style of oratory, set forth the grounds of his opposition with great clearness and cogency.

Chapter IV

Results of the War. — United States Bank. — Currency.

So well pleased were the constituents of Mr. Calhoun with the manner in which he had discharged his duties as a member of Congress, during that important juncture in the affairs of the national government, the main incidents of which have been detailed, that he was returned without opposition, in the fall of 1812, and again in 1814, to the thirteenth and fourteenth Congresses.

Until the close of the war he remained the firm and steadfast advocate of decisive measures, yet when a favorable peace had been concluded he hailed it as the harbinger of good to the country, and especially as it was the signal of her release from the thraldom of foreign influence.

Mr. Calhoun was prominent in discussions of the final treaty with Great Britain, but his influence was chiefly marked in financial matters. Prominent among the unfortunate results of the war of 181 2, was the prostration of public and private credit. When war was declared, business was generally depressed, and it did not revive again till the conclusion of the treaty of peace. The contest was emphatically one of self-defence on the part of the United States, — the very existence of the government was jeoparded, — and when she came out of the

3^ struggle, she had saved Httle more than her nationahty and her honor.

Soon after the actual declaration of war, the banks suspended specie payments, and immense losses were sustained by the government and by private individuals, — those of the former amounting, as has been estimated, to forty-six millions of dollars.* Loans for carrying on the war were made with great difficulty, and often at most ruinous rates. As the currency depreciated, the exchanges became deranged, and the prices of property rose and fell without any seeming regard for the laws which usually govern them. There was no financial barometer to indicate the changes that would take place. The nominal value of to-day might be increased or reduced from twenty-five to thirty per cent, to-morrow, without any ostensible cause. A want of steadiness prevailed everywhere ; the stagnation of business was general ; commerce was completely disordered; and hopeless and irremediable bankruptcy was apprehended.

When peace was declared, the actual resources of the country were found to be far more abundant and more promising than had been anticipated. Many of the most eminent financiers, forming their opinions upon the fa\'orable effect produced, as was alleged, by the incorporation of a national bank in 1791, upon the disordered commerce and finances of the country at that period, desired to have a similar institution established, for the purpose of correcting the evils flowing from the war of 18 12, in the same

* Report of Mr. McDuffie on the United States Bank (House of Representatives), April 13, 1830.