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 was a member of a greater group, the South. As a plantation owner and slave holder he worked out a theory to ensure the survival of the region's social hierarchy. The Exposition was written by both a planter and a lawyer. Nullification favored the cash strapped gentry and the principle itself was uniquely deduced from the Constitution and from early works of the states' rights school. Calhoun's social standing, race and gender predetermined his political philosophy contributing to the development of an elitist and reactionary perspective. While he was given a strict Presbyterian upbringing, he belonged to no organized church as an adult. His view of the North as an evil entity aiming to destroy the innocent South was attributable to the dualist outlook of Calvinism. The foundations of the nullification theory entailed Calhoun's political socialization, his interpretation of the Constitution and early Jeffersonian-Madisonian ideals. John C. Calhoun represented the frustration and anxiety of Southern planters over the region's gradual isolation. The Exposition was the brainchild of a remarkably prescient man understanding that opposing political and economic viewpoints within one country would eventually lead to a national catastrophe. John C. Calhoun started his legislative career as a supporter of economic nationalism, but threats to his region's financial well-being compelled him to entertain sectionalist thoughts. While "The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions" provided a logical point of departure, his derivation of the nullification principle from the Constitution begs further analysis. Article VI of the United States Constitution contains the so-called Supremacy Clause, declaring: "This Constitution and the Laws of the United States ... shall be the supreme law of the land". Article I, Section 8 enumerating the powers of Congress, asserts that the latter has authority "to collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises to provide for the common welfare". Consequently issuance of tariffs fell within the authority of Congress and South Carolina had no legal basis to overturn the import taxes of 1828 and 1832. Nevertheless, two other arguments remain. According to the Tenth Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states 98