John C. Calhoun Quotes
And so they were. However, Calhoun had already concluded which alternatives the South would take. See {635930}
Cobb had been elected president of the convention, and this was his part of his opening remarks.
Urging use of force against the South:
This is a variant of the famous Lincoln quotation, {619494}. Houston did not use the word “house” as had Lincoln but surely, as did Lincoln, was familiar with The Book of Mathew {606727}. Houston however gave his speech BEFORE Lincoln.
This is a wonderful quotation which illustrates the polarization which had taken place in America as a result of the slavery issue. Lincoln’s address—which history and most people have adjudged to be such a moderate attempt to find common ground, and which offended many of his constituents because he was compromising and temporizing on the slavery issue—was seen as the radical attacks of a “fanatic”. There is probably no policy that Lincoln or any other President could have followed that would be even marginally acceptable to the slave owners and their economies and the abolitionists and their economies. In the final analysis, slavery was the kind of issue that is not susceptible to compromise. No nation can exist half slave and half free. The Civil War was inevitable unless the South would give up slavery or the North would accept it.
While Douglas and Lincoln were political opponents with little love lost between them, both were patriots. Douglas’s position were much more popular in the South, and the moment he realized that Lincoln would win the Presidency, he headed South where he was very persuasive in trying to hold the Union together, but he could not see all the potential rebels and was only effective with some. South Carolina not only seceded, but in order to prevent any changing of minds, some the worst of the South Carolinians, attacked Fort Sumter firing on the American Flag and attacking and capturing the Union troops who were totally outnumbered. The Civil War was then inevitable.
Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain
See also Matthew 12:25. Quoted by Abraham Lincoln in his speech to the Republican State Convention, Springfield, IL, June 16, 1858
There was an active secession movement by the Western States. New Orleans was then controlled by the Spanish who would not allow U.S. goods access to export from New Orleans. Some of the wealthier Western citizens thought that they would fare better as a vassal state of Spain rather than part of the newly formed United States. Jefferson, did not overreact and the movement for secession faded.
- Born: March 18, 1782
- Died: March 31, 1850
- Nationality: American
- Profession: Statesman
John Caldwell Calhoun was an American politician and political theorist from South Carolina who held many important positions including being the seventh vice president of the United States from 1825 to 1832, while adamantly defending slavery and protecting the interests of the white South when its residents were outnumbered by Northerners. He began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent of a strong national government and protective tariffs. In the late 1820s, his views changed radically, and he became a leading proponent of states' rights, limited government, nullification, and opposition to high tariffs. He saw Northern acceptance of those policies as a condition of the South remaining in the Union. His beliefs and warnings heavily influenced the South's secession from the Union in 1860–1861.
