John C. Calhoun: “To the People of the United States”

From the moment he entered public life, Calhoun was an impressive figure. When young members took control of the House of Representatives, Calhoun quickly became Speaker Henry Clay’s floor leader and ably carried out his duties of persuasion among representatives in order to get legislation moved through committees and to votes. On December 12, 1811, he helped change the course of America with a speech—“On the Second Resolution Reported by the Committee on Foreign Relations”—that radically altered the balance of power in the House of Representatives, and he became a figure of national prominence. To Americans of his day, Calhoun was one of the most important politicians in the nation and a key interpreter of the Constitution. He may also have been the most outspoken defender of the South. His 1832 address “To the People of the United States” expands on ideas he had previously outlined in the essay “On the Relation Which the States and General Government Bear to Each Other” concerning the manner in which the Constitution was meant to delegate authority among the branches of federal government as well as between the federal government and the individual states. Here he argues that abolitionists were trying to end the limits on the federal government denoted in the Constitution. Without compromise on slavery, the Union would break apart.