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JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN.

JOHN C. CALHOUN, occupies a position first in rank among the orators and statesmen of America. He was of Irish extraction, and was born in Abbeville District, South Carolina, on the eighteenth of March, 1782. His grandfather, James Calhoun, the first of his family who emigrated to America, left Ireland in 1733, and settled in Pennsylvania, from whence he removed to western Virginia. His new home being broken up on the defeat of the unfortunate Braddock, he was again obliged to remove; and he established himself in South Carolina, in a district which was afterwards known as the Calhoun Settlement. In this place he experienced the savage hostilities of the Cherokee Indians, and after a desperate struggle with them, in which his wife, his eldest son, and several other members of the family were massacred, he abandoned the settlement, and did not return to it until after the establishment of peace. Patrick Calhoun, a son of the foregoing, and the father of the subject of this sketch, displayed the most indomitable perseverance and courage, in the struggle with the Cherokees, and for his services was appointed to the command of a body of provincial rangers, raised for the defence of the frontier. He was a inan of the most resolute and active character, and not only served with credit and renown against the incursions of the savages, but, later in life, during the war of the Revolution, rendered signal service in the cause of freedom and colonial rights. For many years he followed the profession of a surveyor with skill and success. Although his life was spent in the midst of the turmoil and hardships of border life, he devoted much of his time to study, and became well versed in English literature. During the Revolution he was a member of the South Carolina provincial legislature, and after the termination of the contest, continued in the State legislature for many years. He opposed the Federal Constitution on the ground that it took away the sovereignty of the States. "We have heard his son say," it is recorded in a recent sketch, *"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 the 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 retraints 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 that such lessons encouraged that spirit of free inquiry for which he was so distinguished during his subsequent career.

The mother of John C. Calhoun, Martha Caldwell, a native of Virginia, was the sister of John Caldwell, who was cruelly killed by the tories during the Revolution, and a niece of the Rev. James Caldwell, a popular preacher, prominent in the history of the revolutionary war, for the zeal and activity he manifested in the defence of the patriot cause. For some time he was a chaplain in the American army, and wielded a great influence over the troops, by whom he was greatly beloved and respected. This circumstance rendered him exceedingly obnoxious to the ministerialists, and many attempts were made to take him prisoner. Unsuccessful in this, the royalists burnt his church, deliberately shot his wife, afterwards burnt his house, and at a

* Sketch of the life of John C. Calhoun, by Parke Godwin, in Homes of American Statesmen; page 899.

later period instigated a sentinel to shoot him, which was done, not fatally, however, while he was on his way to New York under the protection of a flag of truce.*

John C. Calhoun's early instruction was imparted to him at home. At the age of thirteen he was placed under the care of the Rev. Dr. Waddell, his brother-in-law, where he remained, with the exception of a short time, until his entrance upon his college life. During his course with Dr. Waddell, his attention to his studies was so ardent and unremitting, that his health became impaired, and, at one period, his mother, alarmed at his situation, decided to take his books away from him and direct his energies to agricultural pursuits. But this mode of life continued only until he regained his physical vigor: he then continued his studies, and, in the autumn of 1802, entered the junior class at Yale College. In college he was distinguished for the originality of his propositions, the brilliancy of his imagination, the correctness of his tastes and judgment, and the depth of his intellect. His rare acquirements attracted the attention of President Dwight, with whom he held many friendly disputations, and who, on more than one occasion, predicted the future eminence of his eloquent and strong reasoning pupil. He received the honors of a large class, but was prevented from delivering his graduating oration, by a severe illness. On leaving college he commenced the study of law, in the office of Mr. H. W. Desaus sure, an eminent practitioner of South Carolina, but soon after returned to Connecticut, and entered the Litchfield Law School, whence he graduated in 1806.

In 1807 he entered upon practice in the neighborhood of his birthplace, and took a position, "from the very outset, with the most eminent lawyers in his circuit." At this time he com menced his political life. An effort he made at a meeting in his native place, which had been convened to consider the affair of the Chesapeake, gained him the confidence of his fellowcitizens, and he was elected to the State legislature. Here he remained until 1811, in the fall of which year he took his seat in the lower House of the United States Congress, and at once became prominent and active in its deliberations. Soon after he appeared in Congress he was placed on the committee of foreign affairs, and in the support of a report that was made by that committee, recommending an immediate appeal to arms, to settle the difficulties then pending between the United States and Great Britain, he made his first speech, which, for the patriotism of his sentiment and eloquent beauties, won him universal applause. He was compared to "one of the old sages of the old Congress, with the graces of youth," and the "young Carolinian" was hailed as "one of the master spirits, who stamp their name upon the age in which they live." From this time he occupied the front rank of the war party in Congress, and, during the continuance of hostilities, made powerful efforts in defence of the war policy. It is not the present purpose to enter into any detail of his services during the war. Such a recital would require the space of a volume. Of his speeches delivered at this time, many were undoubtedly lost, through the want of able and careful reporters; but those which are now before the public evince the highest order of statesmanship and eloquence, and will be read with interest, "until patriotism ceases to be a virtue." Mr. Calhoun remained in the House of Representatives until December, 1817, when he was appointed Secretary of War by President Monroe. His speeches during the latter part of his representative career: that on the United States Bank, Internal Improvement, and the Tariff, are particularly distinguished for power and constitutional learning. As Secretary of War, Mr. Calhoun rendered signal service to the country. He found the department, in all its branches, in confusion, and, at the end of his seven years' administration, left it in complete order. He found upwards of forty millions of dollars of unsettled accounts, says his biographer, which he reduced to less than three millions, and he completely prevented all further accumulation by the unexampled exactness of accountability which he introduced into every branch of the disbursements, and in consequence of which he was enabled to report to Congress in 1823, that "of the entire amount of money drawn from the treasury in 1822, for the military service, including pensions, amounting to four millions five hundred and seventy-one thousand nine hundred and sixty-one dollars and ninety-four cents, although it passed through the hands of two hundred and ninety-one disbursing agents, there had not been a single defalca

* Pennsylvania Packet, 1780.

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