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 other in most every respect. While history has somewhat marginalized Calhoun compared to Webster, this is largely due to his positions' on Slavery, and the Policy of Nullification, both of which proved wildly charged with emotion, though the latter subject proving quite foundationally formidable in both its theoretical application and historical truth when objectively measured against the federal and state ratification debates of 1787-88. Furthermore, Webster's elevation over Calhoun is likely a result of the victory of the Northern Section over the Southern one in 1865. At any rate, when looking through the prism of history and measuring the size and scope of today's Central government against the reality of what was intended, the work proves itself rather prophetic.
In "Disquisition," Calhoun expounds on the subject of what government is; the social needs that we have as humans that ultimately govern our actions; our social interactions w/ one-another and how those actions are applied under a operating system of government; governments' relationship to human beings; understanding our inherent and unalienble rights as outlined in our founding document, the Declaration; the inherent negative behaviors we hold as humans, and our natural gravitation towards vice e.g. self-aggrandization, controlling others through policies such as taxation, property confiscation, etc. "Disquisition" is written 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 who hold a genuine concern and loyalty of country should strongly consider a review of "Disquisition." To gain the maximum benefit of the writing, consider a deliberate pace since it proved (at least for me) somewhat complex in certain areas.
Calhoun's "Discourse" presents a thoroughly investigated, systematic and extremely compelling argument on original Constitutional structure as agreed upon by the Founders. He catalogues his arguments with great clarity and clearly has a mastery of the subject. Calhoun outlines how the original States, acting in the capacity of "Creator," came into a collective arrangment w/ one-another to form a "Compact" birthing our Central government, identified as the "Created." Calhoun shows that the "Created" had over time maneuvered itself into such a position to become stronger than the "Creator," and as a result, gradually and with method, removed the natural law rights inherent to us, thereby fostering and advancing tyranny. The vehicle that the Central government used to perform this was centered upon a power of a simple majority, or what he calls, the "numerical majority." Calhoun continues the exposition with showing the reader the character and style of our governing system (federalism and republicanism) and the adverse effects placed upon it (and us) as the Central government continues to cast aside the Tenth Amendment. Like "Disquisition," this should be read w/ a critical eye and objective frame of mind in order to gain the maximum benefit. Finally, "Discourse" bears strong threads of maturity given it is largely a summation of Calhoun's political ideology over the course of his long career, including his "Exposition and Protest" of 1828, the "Great Debate" between Senators Robert Y. Hayne and Daniel Webster of 1830 ( w/ Calhoun as the country's Vice-President), and the powerful debates of 1833 and 1850 between Calhoun and Webster directly.
To be sure, whether or not the reader agrees w/ the political and philisophical belief system of Calhoun's No. XXVIII, no library or Kindle belonging to a student of history, law, or political science is complete w/o this writing.
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