In writing the lives of our American Statesmen, we might say of almost
any of them, "that he was born in such a year, that he was sent to the
common school or to college, that he studied law, that he was chosen,
first a member of the State Legislature, and then of the National
Congress, that he became successively, a Senator, a foreign Ambassador,
a Secretary of State, or a President, and that finally he retired to his
paternal acres, to pass a venerable old age, amid the general respect
and admiration of the whole country." This would be a true outline in
the main, of the practical workings and doings of nine out of ten of
them: but in filling in the details of the sketch, in clothing the dry
skeleton of facts with the flesh and blood of the living reality, it
would be found that this apparent similarity of development had given
rise to the utmost diversity and individuality of character, and that
scarcely any two of our distinguished men, though born and bred under
the same influence, bore even a family resemblance. It is said by the
foreign writers, by De Tocqueville especially, that very little
originality and independence of mind can be expected in a democracy,
where the force of the majority crushes all opinions and characters into
a dead and leaden uniformity. But the study of our actual history rather
tends to the opposite conclusion, and leads us to believe that the land
of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, the Adamses, Clay,
Webster and Calhoun, is favorable to the production of distinct,
peculiar, and decided natures. At least we may be sure, that our annals
are no more wanting than those of other nations, in original,
self-formed, and self-dependent men.
Among these, there was no one more peculiar or more unlike any
prototype, than John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina. In the structure of
his mind, in the singular tenacity of his purposes, in the rare dignity
and elevation of his character, and in the remarkable political system
to which he adhered, he was wholly _sui generis_, standing out from the
number of his forerunners and contemporaries in bold, positive and
angular relief. He could only have been what he was, in the country, and
during the times, in which he flourished: he was a natural growth of our
American society and institutions: had formed himself by no models
ancient or modern; and the great leading principles of his thought
faithfully rendered in all his conduct, were as much an individual
possession as the figure of his body or the features of his face. In
seeing him, in hearing him speak, or in reading his books, no one was
ever likely to confound him with any second person.
Mr. Calhoun was born in the Abbeville District of South Carolina, on
the 18th of March, 1782. His parents on both sides were of Irish
extraction, who had first settled in Pennsylvania, and then in Virginia,
whence they were driven by the Indians, at the time of Braddock's defeat,
to South Carolina. The father appears to have been a man of the most
resolute and energetic character, equally ready to defend his home
against the incursions of the savages, and his rights as a citizen
against legislative encroachments. On one occasion, he and his neighbors
went down to within thirty miles of Charleston, armed, to assert a right
of suffrage which was then disputed; and he always steadily opposed the
Federal Constitution, because it allowed other people than those of South
Carolina to tax the people of South Carolina. "We have heard his son
say," writes a friend of the latter, "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 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 restraints
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 such lessons as these must doubtless have served to
encourage that free spirit of inquiry, and that intrepid zeal for truth,
for which he has been since so distinguished. The mode of thinking which
was thus encouraged may, perhaps, have compensated in some degree the
want of those early advantages which are generally deemed indispensable
to great intellectual progress. Of these he had comparatively few. But
this was compensated by those natural gifts which give great minds the
mastery over difficulties which the timid regard as insuperable. Indeed,
we have here another of those rare instances in which the hardiness of
natural genius is seen to defy all obstacles, and developes its flower
and matures its fruit under circumstances apparently the most
unpropitious.
"The region of the country in which his family resided was then newly
settled, and in a rude frontier State. There was not an academy in all
the upper part of the State, and none within fifty miles, except one at
about that distance in Columbia county, Georgia, which was kept by his
brother-in-law, Mr. Waddell, a Presbyterian clergyman. There were but a
few scattered schools in the whole of that region, and these were such
as are usually found on the frontier, in which reading, writing and
arithmetic were imperfectly taught. At the age of thirteen he was placed
under the charge of his brother-in-law to receive his education. Shortly
after, his father died; this was followed by the death of his sister,
Mrs. Waddell, within a few weeks, and the academy was then discontinued,
which suspended his education before it had fairly commenced. His
brother-in-law, with whom he was still left, was absent the greater part
of the time, attending to his clerical duties, and his pupil thus found
himself on a secluded plantation, without any white companion during the
greater portion of the time. A situation apparently so unfavorable to
improvement turned out, in his case, to be the reverse. Fortunately for
him, there was a small circulating library in the house, of which his
brother-in-law was librarian, and, in the absence of all company and
amusements, that attracted his attention. His taste, although
undirected, led him to history, to the neglect of novels and other
lighter reading; and so deeply was he interested, that in a short time
he read the whole of the small stock of historical works, contained in
the library, consisting of Rollin's Ancient History, Robertson's Charles
V., his South America, and Voltaire's Charles XII. After dispatching
these, he turned with like eagerness to Cook's Voyages (the large
edition), a small volume of essays by Brown, and Locke on the
Understanding, which he read as far as the chapter on Infinity. All this
was the work of but fourteen weeks. So intense was his application that
his eyes became seriously affected, his countenance pallid, and his
frame emaciated. His mother, alarmed at the intelligence of his health,
sent for him home, where exercise and amusement soon restored his
strength, and he acquired a fondness for hunting, fishing, and other
country sports. Four years passed away in these pursuits, and in
attention to the business of the farm while his elder brothers were
absent, to the entire neglect of his education. But the time was not
lost. Exercise and rural sports invigorated his frame, while his labors
on the farm gave him a taste for agriculture, which he always retained,
and in the pursuit of which he finds delightful occupation for his
intervals of leisure from public duties."
It is not our purpose, however, to enter into any detail of the life of
Mr Calhoun. Suffice it to say that he was educated, under Dr. Dwight, at
Yale College, that he studied law at Litchfield in Connecticut, that he
was for two sessions a member of the Legislature, that from 1811 to 1817
during the war with Great Britain, and the most trying times that
followed it, he was a member of the lower House of Congress. That he was
then appointed Secretary of War, under Madison, when he gave a new,
thorough, and complete organization to his department. That he was
chosen Vice-President in 1825, and subsequently served his country as
Senator of the United States, and Secretary of State, until the year
1850, when he died. During the whole of this long period his exertions
were constant, and he took a leading part in all the movements of
parties. Acting for the most of the time with the Democratic party, he
was still never the slave of party, never guilty of the low arts or
petty cunning of the mere politician, always fearless in the discharge
of his duties, and though ambitious, ever sacrificing his ambition to
his clearly discerned and openly expressed principles. Mr. Webster, who,
during nearly the whole of his legislative career, and on nearly all
questions of public concern, had been an active opponent, in an obituary
address to the Senate, bore this testimony to his genius and his
greatness.
"Differing widely on many great questions respecting our institutions
and the government of the country, those differences never interrupted
our personal and social intercourse. I have been present at most of the
distinguished instances of the exhibition of his talents in debate. I
have always heard him with pleasure, often with much instruction, not
unfrequently with the highest degree of admiration.
"Mr. Calhoun was calculated to be a leader in whatsoever association of
political friends he was thrown. He was a man of undoubted genius and of
commanding talents. All the country and all the world admit that. His
mind was both perceptive and vigorous. It was clear, quick, and strong.
"Sir, the eloquence of Mr. Calhoun, or the manner in which he exhibited
his sentiments in public bodies, was part of his intellectual character.
It grew out of the qualities of his mind. It was plain, strong, terse,
condensed, concise: sometimes impassioned, still always severe.
Rejecting ornament, not often seeking far for illustration, his power
consisted in the plainness of his propositions, in the closeness of his
logic, and in the earnestness and energy of his manner. These are the
qualities, as I think, which have enabled him through such a long course
of years to speak often, and yet command attention. His demeanor as a
Senator is known to us all, is appreciated, venerated, by us all. No man
was more respectful to others; no man carried himself with greater
decorum, no man with superior dignity. I think there is not one of us,
when he last addressed us from his seat in the Senate, his form still
erect, with a voice by no means indicating such a degree of physical
weakness as did in fact possess him, with clear tones, and an
impressive, and, I may say, an imposing manner, who did not feel that he
might imagine that we saw before us a Senator of Rome, while Rome
survived.
"Sir, I have not, in public, nor in private life, known a more assiduous
person in the discharge of his appropriate duties. I have known no man
who wasted less of life in what is called recreation, or employed less
of it in any pursuits not connected with the immediate discharge of his
duty. He seemed to have no recreation but the pleasure of conversation
with his friends. Out of the chambers of Congress, he was either
devoting himself to the acquisition of knowledge pertaining to the
immediate subject of the duty before him, or else he was indulging in
those social interviews in which he so much delighted.
"My honorable friend from Kentucky[20] has spoken in just terms of his
colloquial talents. They certainly were singular and eminent. There was
a charm in his conversation not often equalled. He delighted especially
in conversation and intercourse with young men. I suppose that there has
been no man among us who had more winning manners, in such an
intercourse and such conversation, with men comparatively young, than
Mr. Calhoun. I believe one great power of his character, in general, was
his conversational talent. I believe it is that, as well as a
consciousness of his high integrity, and the greatest reverence for his
talents and ability, that has made him so endeared an object to the
people of the State to which he belonged.
"Mr. President, he had the basis, the indispensable basis of all high
character; and that was, unspotted integrity and unimpeached honor.
If he had aspirations, they were high, and honorable, and noble. There
was nothing grovelling, or low, or meanly selfish, that came near the
head or the heart of Mr. Calhoun. Firm in his purpose, perfectly
patriotic and honest, as I am sure he was, in the principles that he
espoused, and in the measures which he defended, aside from that large
regard for the species of distinction that conducted him to eminent
stations for the benefit of the republic, I do not believe he had a
selfish motive or selfish feeling. However he may have differed from
others of us in his political opinions or his political principles,
those principles and those opinions will now descend to posterity under
the sanction of a great name. He has lived long enough, he has done
enough, and he has done it so well, so successfully, so honorably, as to
connect himself for all time with the records of his country. He is now
an historical character. Those of us who have known him here, will find
that he has left upon our minds and our hearts a strong and lasting
impression of his person, his character, and his public performances,
which, while we live, will never be obliterated. We shall hereafter, I
am sure, indulge in it as a grateful recollection, that we have lived in
his age, that we have been his contemporaries, that we have seen him,
and heard him, and known him. We shall delight to speak of him to those
who are rising up to fill our places. And, when the time shall come that
we ourselves must go, one after another, to our graves, we shall carry
with us a deep sense of his genius and character, his honor and
integrity, his amiable deportment in private life, and the purity of his
exalted patriotism."
The event in Mr. Calhoun's political life which will give him the
greatest distinction in our history, was the bold and perilous course he
took on the subject of nullification. It brought him and his native
State directly in conflict with the powers of the Federal government,
and but for the compromise of the Tariff question, out of which the
controversy grew, would have ended in civil war. We shall not undertake
to narrate the origin or the purpose of this most fearful crisis,
referring our readers to the regular memoirs of Mr. Calhoun for the
details, but we cannot refrain from expressing our high admiration of
the gallant bearing of the great South Carolinian during the whole of
the protracted and embarrassing dispute. The energy with which he
pursued his ends, the originality with which he defended them, the
boldness of his position, the devotion to his friends, the formidable
objects that he had to encounter, the calm, earnest self-reliance with
which he encountered them, and, in the end, the graceful concessions on
both sides, by which the difficulties of the juncture were avoided, are
brilliant illustrations both of the lofty energies of his spirit, and of
the happy, peaceful working of our national institutions. In any other
country, and under any other government, if it had been possible for
such a conflict to arise, it could only have terminated in bloodshed or
war. Either the reigning authority would have been overturned, or the
chief agent in the insurrection would have been executed as a traitor.
Under the benign and conciliatory genius of our constitution, by that
pacific legislation, which knows how to temper the rigid and inflexible
exercise of law by the spirit of concession, the struggle ended in
compromise.
It was in his domestic life that Mr. Calhoun won the warmest homage of
the heart. Miss Bates, who was for many years a governess in his family,
and who enjoyed the finest opportunities for observing him, has given us
the following record of his private virtues and peculiarities.
"In Mr. Calhoun were united the simple habits of the Spartan lawgiver,
the inflexible principles of the Roman senator, the courteous bearing
and indulgent kindness of the American host, husband, and father. This
was indeed a rare union. Life with him was solemn and earnest, and yet
all about him was cheerful. I never heard him utter a jest; there was an
unvarying dignity and gravity in his manner; and yet the playful child
regarded him fearlessly and lovingly. Few men indulge their families in
as free, confidential, and familiar intercourse as did this great
statesman. Indeed, to those who had an opportunity of observing him in
his own house, it was evident that his cheerful and happy home had
attractions for him superior to those which any other place could offer.
Here was a retreat from the cares, the observation, and the homage of
the world. In few homes could the transient visitor feel more at ease
than did the guest at Fort Hill. Those who knew Mr. Calhoun only by his
senatorial speeches, may suppose that his heart and mind were all
engrossed in the nation's councils; but there were moments when his
courtesy, his minute kindnesses, made you forget the statesman. The
choicest fruits were selected for his guest; and I remember seeing him
at his daughter's wedding take the ornaments from a cake and send them
to a little child. Many such graceful attentions, offered in an
unostentatious manner to all about him, illustrated the kindness and
noble simplicity of his nature. His family could not but exult in his
intellectual greatness, his rare endowments, and his lofty career, yet
they seemed to lose sight of all these in their love for him. I had once
the pleasure of travelling with his eldest son, who related to me many
interesting facts and traits of his life. He said he had never heard him
speak impatiently to any member of his family. He mentioned, that as he
was leaving that morning for his home in Alabama, a younger brother
said, 'Come soon again, and see us, brother A--, for do you not see that
father is growing old? and is not father the dearest, best old man in
the world!'
"Like Cincinnatus, he enjoyed rural life and occupation. It was his
habit, when at home, to go over his grounds every day. I remember his
returning one morning from a walk about his plantation, delighted with
the fine specimens of corn and rice which he brought in for us to
admire. That morning--the trifling incident shows his consideration and
kindness of feeling, as well as his tact and power of adaptation--seeing
an article of needlework in the hands of sister A--, who was then a
stranger there, he examined it, spoke of the beauty of the coloring, the
variety of the shade, and by thus showing an interest in her, at once
made her at ease in his presence.
"His eldest daughter always accompanied him to Washington, and in the
absence of his wife, who was often detained by family cares at Fort
Hill, this daughter was his solace amid arduous duties, and his
confidant in perplexing cases. Like the gifted De Stael, she loved her
father with enthusiastic devotion. Richly endowed by nature, improved by
constant companionship with the great man, her mind was in harmony with
his, and he took pleasure in counselling with her. She said, 'Of course,
I do not understand as he does, for I am comparatively a stranger to the
world, yet he likes my unsophisticated opinion, and I frankly tell him
my views on any subject about which he inquires of me.'
"Between himself and his younger daughter there was a peculiar and most
tender union. As by the state of her health she was deprived of many
enjoyments, her indulgent parents endeavored to compensate for every
loss by their affection and devotion. As reading was her favorite
occupation, she was allowed to go to the letter-bag when it came from
the office, and select the papers she preferred. On one occasion, she
had taken two papers, containing news of importance which her father was
anxious to see, but he would allow no one to disturb her until she had
finished their perusal.
"In his social as well as in his domestic relations he was
irreproachable. No shadow rested on his pure fame, no blot on his
escutcheon. In his business transactions he was punctual and
scrupulously exact. He was honorable as well as honest. Young men who
were reared in his vicinity, with their eyes ever on him, say that in
all respects, in small as well as in great things, his conduct was so
exemplary that he might well be esteemed a model.
"His profound love for his own family, his cordial interest in his
friends, his kindness and justice in every transaction, were not small
virtues in such a personage.
"He was anti-Byronic. I never heard him ridicule or satirize a human
being. Indeed he might have been thought deficient in a sense of the
ludicrous, had he not by the unvarying propriety of his own conduct
proved his exquisite perception of its opposites. When he differed in
opinion from those with whom he conversed, he seemed to endeavor by a
respectful manner, to compensate for the disagreement. He employed
reason, rather than contradiction; and so earnestly would he urge an
opinion and so fully present an argument, that his opponent could not
avoid feeling complimented rather than mortified. He paid a tribute to
the understandings of others by the force of his own reasoning, and by
his readiness to admit every argument which he could, although advanced
in opposition to one he himself had just expressed.
"On one occasion I declined taking a glass of wine at his table. He
kindly said, 'I think you carry that a little too far. It is well to
give up every thing intoxicating, but not these light wines.' I replied,
that wine was renounced by many for the sake of consistency, and for the
benefit of those who could not afford wine. He acknowledged the
correctness of the principle, adding, 'I do not know how temperance
societies can take any other ground,' and then defined his views of
temperance, entered on a course of interesting arguments, and stated
facts and statistics. Of course, were all men like Mr. Calhoun
temperance societies would be superfluous. Perhaps he could not be aware
of the temptations that assail many men--he was so purely intellectual,
so free from self-indulgence. Materiality with him was held subject to
his higher nature. He did not even indulge himself in a cigar. Few spent
as little time, and exhausted as little energy in mere amusements.
Domestic and social enjoyments were his pleasures--kind and benevolent
acts were his recreations.
"He always seemed willing to converse on any subject which was
interesting to those about him. Returning one day from Fort Hill, I
remarked to a friend, 'I have never been more convinced of Mr. Calhoun's
genius than to-day, while he talked to us of a flower.' His versatile
conversation evinced his universal knowledge, his quick perception, and
his faculty of adaptation. A shower one day compelled him to take
shelter in the shed of a blacksmith, who was charmed by his familiar
conversation, and the knowledge he exhibited of the mechanic arts. A
naval officer was once asked, after a visit to Fort Hill, how he liked
Mr. Calhoun. 'Not at all,' said he--'I never like a man who knows more
about my profession than I do myself.' A clergyman wished to converse
with him on subjects of a religious nature, and after the interview
remarked, that he was astonished to find him better informed than
himself on those very points wherein he had expected to give him
information. I had understood that Mr. Calhoun avoided an expression of
opinion with regard to different sects and creeds, or what is called
religious controversy; and once, when urged to give his views in
relation to a disputed point, he replied, 'That is a subject to which I
have never given my attention.'
"Mr. Calhoun was unostentatious, and ever averse to display. He did not
appear to talk for the sake of exhibition, but from the overflowing of
his earnest nature. Whether in the Senate or in conversation with a
single listener, his language was choice, his style fervid, his manner
impressive. Never can I forget his gentle earnestness when endeavoring
to express his views on some controverted subject, and observing that my
mind could hardly keep pace with his rapid reasoning, he would
occasionally pause and say, in his kind manner, 'Do you see?'
"He did not seek to know the opinion of others with regard to himself.
Anonymous letters he never read, and his daughters and nieces often
snatched from the flames letters of adulation as well as censure, which
he had not read. Although he respected the opinions of his fellow-men,
he did not seek office or worldly honor. A few years since, one to whom
he ever spoke freely, remarked to him that some believed he was making
efforts to obtain the presidency. At that moment he had taken off his
glasses, and was wiping them, and thus he replied: 'M----, I think when
a man is too old to see clearly through his glasses, he is too old to
think of the presidency.' And recently he said to her, 'They may impute
what motives they please to me, but I do not seek office.' So much did
he respect his country, that he might have been gratified by the free
gift of the people; so much did he love his country, that he might have
rejoiced at an opportunity to serve it; but would he have swerved one
iota from his convictions to secure a kingdom? Who, that knew him,
believes it?"
Mr. Calhoun was an author as well as a statesman, and in the
dissertations on the constitution and on government published since his
death, has bequeathed us the ripened fruits of his life-long study.
They are works of the rarest penetration and sagacity, of subtle logic,
of earnest conviction, of profound observation of men and things, and of
unquestionable genius. The particular conclusions at which the writer
arrives, as to the nature and limits of government, and as to the
amendments that ought to be made in the constitution of the United
States, will not be adopted by large classes of readers; but none of
them will arise from a perusal of his pages, without an additional
admiration of the keenness and force of his intellect, the ardor of his
patriotism, and the purity of his character.