John C. Calhoun: A Biography [Hardcover]

Irving H. Bartlett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1994

John C. Calhoun was a life-long politician who was also a profound political philosopher. Within 10 years of being orphaned as a teenager he had become a Yale graduate, a lawyer, a former state legislator and a congressman-elect prepared to help James Madison lead America into the war of 1812. In 1824, he was easily elected vice-president under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson and in the 1830s and 1840s was a dominant presence in the Senate of the United States. In this biography, Irving Bartlett explains the cultural and psychological forces that shaped Calhoun's political career.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Bartlett ( Wendell and Ann Phillips , Norton, 1982; Daniel Webster , Norton, 1981) examines in detail the life and career of one of the South's great men. He reveals the highlights of Calhoun's career: his role as a war hawk in Congress in 1812, his almost total reformation of the War Department as Secretary of War under President Monroe, and his many clashes with a paranoid but popular Andrew Jackson. He also details Calhoun's family life, revealing a man who appears to be very different from the persona cultivated in public. But, as Bartlett shows, Calhoun's most historic role was as the creator of the concept of nullification, which was a response to the Tariff Crisis of 1824. Calhoun's prime concern was how a state may protect itself against unjust and unconstitutional Federal legislation. A well-wrought study written in an accessible style; highly recommended.
- Robert A. Curtis, Taylor Memorial P.L., Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A scholarly, limpid life of the southern statesman and nullifier. Bartlett (American Civilization/UMass at Boston; Daniel Webster, 1978) tries his engaging best at a tough task: to bring to life someone who was called ``the cast-iron man'' by his own contemporaries. Born to Irish immigrants who'd settled in South Carolina and become wealthy and prominent, Calhoun (1782-1850) studied at Yale and, though an adherent of Jeffersonian republicanism, at the heavily Federalist Litchfield Law School. Soon disenchanted with the law's pedantry, he entered public life, assuming office in the US House of Representatives soon after marrying his second cousin and becoming one of the largest plantation masters in South Carolina. Bartlett, while only glancing at his subject's personal life, covers in rapid succession the series of crises that shaped Calhoun's evolution from avid nationalist to champion of sectionalism and nullification, and that thrust him into prominence: his career as a war hawk in the House, which helped propel the country into the War of 1812; his turbulent term as secretary of war under Monroe, which led him into fateful confrontations with Andrew Jackson over Jackson's headstrong Florida policy; his stints as Vice President under John Quincy Adams and Jackson, during which he advocated the power of states to nullify federal laws; and his years as a senatorial defender of slavery and the southern way of life. Bartlett also points out that Calhoun, in his term as secretary of state under Tyler, became one of the architects of the policy that led to the annexation of Texas as a slave state. Finally, Calhoun returned to the Senate, continued to shape public opinion on the Mexican War, and in his Disquisition on Government (1848) achieved the ultimate expression of his views on nullification. Bartlett paints Calhoun as many of his peers no doubt viewed him: brilliant, utterly absorbed in politics and personal ambition, formidable--even admirable in many ways--but not very likable. A fine contribution to antebellum scholarship. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 414 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (January 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393034763
• ISBN-13: 978-0393034769
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,269,870 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Superb Biography on a Great American, May 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: John C. Calhoun: A Biography (Hardcover)

John Calhoun is probably one of the most interesting Americans to ever serve his country. A member of the American troika that included Clay and Webster, Calhoun was a staunch states right and slavery advocate. This book begins by examining Calhoun's youth and how his father Patrick instilled his virtues in his son. Calhoun went to Yale and later law school in Connecticut. Calhoun was then elected to the U.S. House of Representatives at the time of the 1812 disagreements with Britain. Calhoun was to remain in politics until his death almost 40 years later. Calhoun served as a Representative, Vice-president, Senator, and Secretary of War and State. The book is at its best when it details Calhoun attacking the status quo, something he did often. In fact, with todays sell-outs that we call politicians, it's nice to see that someone once stood up for what he believed in. Bartlett spends some time pointing out Calhoun's ironies--one of which was that as great a man as he was, his kids were spoiled brats. Only one of his children was up to his immense intellect, and that was his daughter Anna. Since women didn't have careers in the 19th century, she couldn't follow him into politics. Try and find this book at the library if Amazon doesn't get it in stock.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but distant biography, May 20, 2002

By 

mrliteral - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: John C. Calhoun: A Biography (Hardcover)

After reading this biography of John Calhoun, I had completed reading about the lives of the "Great Triumvirate" of Webster, Clay and Calhoun who, as Representatives, Senators and Secretaries of State were the most dominant non-Presidents in early-19th Century America.

Each of the Triumvirate had their assets and their flaws. As this biography illustrates, Calhoun's great assets were his integrity and his intellect; his great flaws included his inflexibility and his adherence to promoting and continuing slavery.

As a biography goes, this one is good but not great. It is a generally well-written work, but Bartlett has a tendency to speculate as to what Calhoun and others were thinking at particular moments and let a pro-Calhoun bias sometimes remove the objectivity from his work. Despite this, I still did not feel I could really relate to Calhoun, who comes off kind of remote.

Overall, there is more good than bad in this book, however, and as an introduction to an important historical figure, this is a worthwhile read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Cast-Iron Man Rides Again, May 5, 2010

By 

Dr. Cardinal "Cardinal Bound!!!!" (Free of the Mountains!!!!!) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: John C Calhoun: A Biography (Paperback)

First, let me say that I have a pro-Calhoun bias, not because of his stance of slavery, but rather because through sheer strength and tenacity he was able to elevate himself to a place in government and history. Calhoun started by working hard at Yale to succeed in spite of his disadvantages. Once he did, he would then work hard to make a name for himself in politics, as Secretary of War, Vice-President, and Senator. He did this through hard work, a brilliant intellect, and unending commitment to his identity and lifestyle. The commitment to his identity and lifestyle is what I admire in the man, and Bartlett captures that with a great zest. All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the era leading tot he Civil War, or men of principle.