Customer Reviews

The Papers of John C. Calhoun, Vol. XXVIII

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Having recently completed a multi-year study of the writings and papers of each member of the Great Triumvirate, (John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster) I have come to the conclusion that Calhoun's sheer weight of mind made him the greater intellect of the three men, although not the greater in oratory. But when viewed against any of their senatorial successors of more recent history, each member of the Triumvirate stands head and shoulders above any in most probably every respect. History, however, has somewhat marginalized Calhoun largely due to his position on slavery, (a subject wildly charged with emotion)and his writings as the author of the Policy of Nullification, a subject, too, also not w/o feeling of its own, but foundationally formidable in its presentation when objectively measured. At any rate, it cannot be denied that Calhoun's No. XXVIII is nothing less than a brilliant work, and, if by chance we were the wiser, we would take great care to consider his lead, especially today as the central government continues its transition to a state of a leviathan.

In "Disquisition," Calhoun expounds on the subject of what government is; the social needs that govern our actions as human beings; our interactions w/ one-another and those actions relative to the application and operating systems of government(s); governemnts' relationship to human beings understanding our inherent and unalienble rights as outlined in our founding document, the Declaration; and the inherent aspects and elements of our negative behaviors as humans, to include a propensity to gravitate to the vices of controlling others through taxation and property confiscation when an agent or actor in government. "Disquisition" is performed in an exemplary fashion: practical, logical, rational, and extremely valuable to the simple, complex or more-learned among us. Indeed, regardless of party affiliation, representatives and leaders within government today should strongly consider in absorbing Calhoun's writing. I would strongly urge the reader to maintain a pace of reading that fosters a greater understanding of Calhoun's thought process in order to glean a maximum benefit.

In "Discourse," and after a very thorough investigation, which I have attempted to cross-check for accuracy, Calhoun presents a systematic and extremely compelling argument of the proper definitions, applications, and ultimate adjudicators of Constitutional interpretation. He catalogues his arguments with great clarity and clearly has a mastery of the subject. In brevity, he outlines how the States, as the "Creator," came into an arrangment w/ one-another in the form of a "compact," to form our central government. He identifies and outlines that that the central government, as the "Created," had maneuvered itself to be stronger than the "Creator", (which the Founders consistently warned us about) and having done such, has slowly and methodicially removed our inherent rights and liberties, and, therefore, moved into a state of tyranny. As a side, the great debates of 1833 and 1850 between Calhoun and Webster have strong threads of "Discouse" present, appearing to show that Calhoun had been working "Discourse" over a very long period of time, thus giving the writing a greater level of maturity. "Discourse" also espouses the character and style of our governing system (federalism and republicanism) and the adverse effects placed upon the compact should the central government continue to cast aside the Tenth Amendment. Like "Disquisition," his writing of "Discourse" is equally exemplary and should be read w/ a critical eye and objective frame of mind in order to gain the maximum benefit.

To be sure, whether or not the reader agrees w/ Calhoun's No. XXVIII, no library or Kindle belonging to a student of history, lawyer, or political scientist is complete w/o this writing.