Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/592

 586 CALHOUN and acting also, as ho afterward alleged, upon a private intimation of the wishes of the ad- ministration that he should take possession of Florida, he not only followed fhe Seminoles into Florida, but seized first upon St. Mark's, and then upon Pensacola. The Spanish min- ister protested against this violation of the Spanish territory. Calhouri, considering that Jackson bad violated his orders, maintained the expediency of bringing him to trial for it. This was warmly opposed by J. Q. Adams, secretary of state, whose opinion prevailed with the president. The question of the sig- nature by the president of the Missouri com- promise bill being brought before the cabinet, Mr. Oalhoun held the bill to be constitutional, on the ground of a power in congress to pro- hibit slavery in the territories of the United States, though he was of opinion that such prohibition would remain in force only while the territorial condition lasted, and would not be binding upon any state which might be created out of such territory. Shortly after the commencement of President Monroe's sec- ond term in 1821, the question of the successor- ship became one of leading interest. Calhoun's name was mentioned among others. He was regarded 1, especially in Pennsylvania, as a statesman of broad views, above mere local or narrow party influences, and disposed, on the question of internal improvements and other questions of national importance, to a liberal construction of the power of the general government. W. H. Crawford was also a can- didate for the presidency, and the favorite of the Virginia politicians. But the military ex- ploits of Gen. Jackson, also brought forward as a candidate, made such an impression on the popular mind in Pennsylvania, that the friends of Calhoun judged it expedient for them to withdraw his name and to support Jackson instead. Thereupon Oalhoun con- tented himself with standing for the vice- presidency. As between the presidential can- didates, he assumed a position of neutrality; and as the ability with which he filled the office of secretary of war was generally ad- mitted, he obtained nearly the whole of the Adams and Jackson votes, with some of those for Mr. Clay, and was thus elected by a large majority. Upon giving up his office as secre- tary of war, he removed his family to Pen- dleton district, now Pickens county, in the extreme northern angle of South Carolina, to an estate called Fort Hill, which had de- scended to Mrs. Calhoun from her mother, and which continued to be his residence for the rest of his life. Immediately after the choice of Mr. Adams by the house of representatives, through the support of Mr. Clay, a coalition was entered into between the supporters of Jackson and Crawford to oppose the admin- istration of Adams, and, when the election drew near, to support Jackson as his successor. Into this combination Calhoun, though he had been supposed to prefer Adams to Jackson, entered warmly and became one of its chief leaders. During the whole of Adams's term of office, Mr. Calhoun, though debarred by his position as vice president from any active part in congress, gave his countenance and support to the -opposition ; and in 1828 he was reelect- ed vice president on the Jackson ticket, receiv- ing all the votes cast for Jackson except those of Georgia. The tariff question had for some years past been a leading topic of public in- terest. Upon this subject there existed a very serious difference among the supporters of Jackson. The' middle states were at that time almost unanimous for a protective tariff, while the southern and especially the cotton- growing states were for free trade. Calhoun was the head of this free-trade section of the party, while Mr. Van Buren, then a member of the senate from New York, was conspicuous on the other side. It was by his management and his votes that the tariff hill of 1828 was so amended as to he carried through congress, contrary to the expectation which Calhoun and the free traders had formed, that by ad- hering to certain provisions desired by the middle states, but disagreeable to the shipping interest of New England, Mr. Van Buren and other middle state senators would keep the bill in a shape to be defeated by the combined vote of New England and the South. Mr. Eaton, a senator from Tennessee, supposed to represent the feelings and opinions of Presi- dent Jackson, cooperated with Van Buren in this movement, which led Calhoun to doubt whether the president could be relied upon to bring the protective system to an end. Accordingly he began to cast about for other means. He turned his attention to the sove- reignty of the states, and, from being charged with being too national, soon after fell under the accusation of pushing the doctrine of state rights to extremes. Building on the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1798-'9, he pro- pounded the doctrine of nullification, that is to say, the right of each state to prevent the exe- cution within her limits of such acts of con- gress as she might judge unconstitutional. This doctrine he embodied in an elaborate paper, prepared in the summer of 1828, which, being put into the hands of a committee of the South Carolina legislature, and being reported to the house with some softening modifications, was, though not adopted by it, ordered to be print- ed, and became known as the "South Carolina Exposition." At the next session of congress this doctrine of nullification was brought for- ward in the senate of the United States by Mr. Hayne of South Carolina, in the speech to which Mr. Webster made his famous reply, and in which, though he answered Hayne, he struck through him at Calhoun, who was sup- posed, though not then certainly known, to be the father of the doctrine. Meanwhile there had occurred a great struggle for influence and predominance with the president between the advocates of the tariff and of free trade. Van