John C. Calhoun Quotes
I am aware how difficult is the task to preserve free institutions over so wide a space and so immense a population, but we are blessed with a Constitution admirably calculated to accomplish it. Its elastic power is unequaled, which is to be attributed to its federal character.
Calhoun, John C. "Speech on the Veto Power." 28 Feb. 1842. The Works of John C. Calhoun, edited by Richard K. Crallé, vol. 4, D. Appleton and Company, 1854, p. 74.
The words “extensive empire” imply that Jefferson who doubled the size of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase was thinking of a nation that spanned the continent and was happy with the fact that the Constitution did not obstruct the addition of additional states and territories.
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.
