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.
natural state "an egalitarian Utopia" and based its failure on man's fear of death. 3 5 John C. Calhoun proved to be an astute reader of John Adams. The second president of the United States viewed humans as selfish creatures preferring individual goals to the common weal. Adams' society was based on the balance of orders, the equalizing ability of opposite classes. He realized that inequality was an innate human condition to be expressed in the nation's political structure. He recognized the threat of an oppressive majority and outlined the division of governmental powers and a strong executive veto for protection. 3 6 Calhoun not only shared Adam's pessimistic view of humanity, but regarded the balance of orders or the neutralizing effects of bipolar powers as the foundation of democracy. Both writers emphasized property rights as a basis of social order and condemned encroachment on the former for leading to the greatest evil, anarchy. Calhoun's restricted view of liberty originated in his friend Francis Lieber's writings. Lieber distinguished between Anglican and Gallican liberty basing the former on natural laws, the latter on the right to vote and on majority rule. Calhoun rejected the Gallican version for its tendency to lead to tyranny. 3 7 In the final analysis, Calhoun's political philosophy suffers from the fallacy of false choice. While he viewed the North and South as principal elements of the national agenda, he ignored the West, a region which was on the verge of country-wide prominence. Neither politics, nor human relationships could be expressed as binary propositions. His system of dual executives not only promoted sectionalism but institutionalized political fragmentation. Two executives with mutual veto powers were tantamount to political deadlock and governmental paralysis. 3 5 John Locke, Értekezés a Polgári Kormányzat Igazi Eredetéről, Hatásköréről és Céljairól (Budapest: Gondolat Kiadó, 1986), p. 11. Kenneth M. Dolbeare, American Political Thought (New Jersey: Chatham House, 1981), p. 64. 3 7 Merill. D. Peterson, The Great Triumvirate (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 410. 106
