CALHOTJN, JOHN CALDWELL, an eminent American statesman, descended from an Irish family who founded the Calhouns' settlement in South Carolina, was h. at Abbe ville, S. C., Mar. 18, 1782. Having gained distinction at the bar, lie was sent to con gress in 1811, where lie soon made himself the leader of the war-party against England. Author of the tariff of 1816, so favorable to his native state, he in 1817 was named min ister of war by president Monroe, and reduced the confused state of affairs in his department to order, and made a great reduction in the expenditure of the army without sacrificing its efficiency.
The early part of C.'s career was marked by broad and patriotic views, to which his subsequent preference of southern interests presented an unfavorable contrast. The tariff of 1828 not being very favorable to the southern states, C. still adhered to the govern ment, hoping that the president, Jackson, would veto the measure; but as this hope was disappointed, C. went to South Carolina, and there (1829) carried in the legislature the notorious resolution, "that any state in the union might annul attact of the Federal government." To this decision, Virginia, Georgia, and Alabama gave in their
adhe sion, and threatened the dissolution of the union. President Jackson promptly used energetic measures to make this resolution of no effect. 0, lost popularity, and despairing of reaching the presidency, resigned his vice-presidency; but soon afterwards was elected to the senate. In 1838, lie delivered his fatuous speech on slavery, and con tinued to agitate on behalf of the interest and for a dissolurion of the union, both with voice and pen, until his death, which took place at Washington, Mar. 31, 1850. In his private character, C. was blameless; but in his career as a statesman he is understood to have implanted in the minds of his partisans those principles which culminated in the late war for the dissolution of the union. During many years, he had been employed in writing his work on The Philosophy of Government, in which he vindicates the doctrine of state sovereignty, and which, along with other works, was posthumously published.