Calhoun

(kal-hoon',) JOHN CALDWELL, an American statesman, B. in S. Carolina, 1782. After graduating with distinction at Yale Coll., in 1804, he practised with succe at the bar. Entering Congre in 1810, he there became the leader of the Democratic and War party, and in his first se ion built up a political reputation. In 1817, he was appointed minister of war, and in 1820 supported the Mi ouri Compromise Bill. In 1824, he was elected Vice-President of the Union, and reëlected in 1828. C. opposed the Tariff Bill of the latter year in so far as its action affected the S. States, and declaring himself an advocate of free-trade, caused to be pa ed in the S. Carolina Legislature, in 1829, the celebrated resolution-the nucleus of future sece ion - " that any State in the Union might annul an act of the Federal Government. " To this doctrine the States of Virginia, Georgia, and Alabama, gave in their adhesion, and it required prompt measures on the part of Pres. Jackson to avert a disruption of the Union. C. afterwards became an unsucce ful competitor for the presidency, in 1832, resigned the vice-presidency, and in the same year was elected senator. Retiring from the Senate in 1843, he was, in 1844, appointed secretary of state. Resuming his senatorial position in 1845, he opposed both the Mexican War and the Wilmot Proviso. D. in Washington, 1850. As a statesman C. was, throughout his career, the untiring and most brilliant advocate of Southern Rights, and a resolute agitator for a repeal of the Union. In his posthumous work, a Treatise on the Nature of Government, his opinions are sufficiently expounded by his advocacy ofa division of the Union into North and South, each under its own president, who should respectively have the power of vetoing all acts of Congre . [s. 130]