Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1993. [Vol. 1.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 21)
STUDIES - András Tamóc: The Politics of a Cast-Iron Man. John C. Calhoun and His Views on Government.
Calhoun's recognition of sectionalism's dire consequences were certainly praiseworthy, but his remedy, an unwavering reverence of the Founding Document notwithstanding, was unconstitutional. The Constitution expressly provided for one chief executive only. Two presidents would not only have lead to a division of Rational powers, but following the first citizen's responsibility of Commander in Chief, two armed forces as well. Calhoun's political theory was his answer to the "Republican Dilemma". While he recognized democracy's innate shortcomings, he placed the solution on the wrong premise. The American South with its racial, economic, and political stratification fell far below the standards of democracy. Blinded by sectionalist zeal, the author committed such errors in reasoning as the fallacy of the slippery slope. In Calhoun's democracy, liberty was assigned to its own sphere and any expansion beyond a predetermined boundary would have led to anarchy. It was typical of the author to predict the gravest consequences of given actions, disregarding options in-between. John C. Calhoun's theory of democracy contained a small number of positive elements. The writer displayed a thorough if misguided appreciation of the Constitution and employed the tools of democracy in his line of defense against tyranny, leading to a new understanding of the role interest groups play in the democratic process. Whereas Calhoun regarded himself to be a champion of democracy, he hated the expression and always referred to himself as a republican. 38 His notoriously dualist perspective and obstinate conservatism forged a rigid, merciless personal philosophy and a political creed, that described by Hofstadter's words, "made him a minority spokesman in a democracy, a particularist in the age of nationalism, a slave holder in an age of advancing liberties and an agrarian in a furiously capitalistic country". 3 9 3 8 Ibid., p. 338. 3 9 Richard Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition (New York: W. W. Norton, 1965), p. 117. 107
