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.

building process had not begun in earnest until the early 1800s. The War of 1812, or America's second war of independence, generated outbursts of patriotism unseen since the Revolution. The Treaty of Ghent confirmed America's economic autonomy and removed the obstacles from the development of efficient liberal capitalism. The nation's revival depended on the creation of banking and transportation networks and the implementation of protectionist policies. The expiration of the First National Bank's charter caused financial difficulties, cheap British imports threatened domestic industry and a chronic lack of adequate roadways hindered interstate commerce.

6 Calhoun began his congressional career as an enthusiastic supporter of economic and political unity.

7 He felt that the spirit of nationalism would greatly benefit the South, eventually leading it to domination of the Union. In order to stem the onslaught of low-priced British goods Congress passed the Tariff of 1816. This measure was the first piece of protective legislation in American history. It imposed an almost fifty percent tax on foreign wool, cotton, iron, paper, leather and sugar. Most Southern Congressmen, fearing increased costs of imported goods for their constituents, voted against the bill. Calhoun, on the other hand, enthusiastically supported the Tariff, hoping the law would promote manufacturing below the Mason-Dixon Line. The Depression of 1819 shook postwar economic optimism, placing an additional burden on planters. The Tariff caused a drop in cotton prices making imported, mostly English goods unaffordable. Planter associations such as the Virginia Agricultural Society actively lobbied against the measure, branding it "an unequal tax that awarded exclusive privileges to oppressive monopolies and aimed to grind Southern farmers and their children into dust and ashes".

8 Meanwhile Calhoun's nationalistic fervor gradually subsided giving way to sectionalist thoughts. As a Southern cotton grower he sought a way 6 George Brown Tindall and David E. Shi, America (New York: W. W. Norton, 1984), p. 231. 7 Richard Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition (New York: W. W. Norton, 1965), p. 91. 8 Mary Beth Norton et al., A People and the Nation (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986), p. 231. 92