John C. Calhoun Quotes


War may be made by one party, but it requires two to make peace.


Citations

Calhoun, John C. "Speech on the Three Million Bill." 9 Feb. 1847. The Works of John C. Calhoun, edited by Richard K. Crallé, vol. 4, D. Appleton and Company, 1854, p. 306.

Related Quotes

This is the quotation that came to define Chamberlain’s naivety for history and the icon of failed diplomacy. However to see the beginning of the sequence of events that would lead up to this statement, see {585940} when Chamberlain suggested the infamous meeting in Munich. There had been an interesting history to Chamberlain’s appeasement of Germany. 39 years earlier, Chamberlain’s father, then Britain’s Colonial Secretary, and advocated a natural alliance with Germany. See Joseph Chamberlain, 1836-1914: {585939}.


Up Front was a book of cartoons with his two GI characters, Willie and Joe. The quote is from their dialogue. Up Front which won the Pulitzer Prize.


John C. Calhoun
John C. Calhoun
  • 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.