Calhoun: American Heretic

Historian Elder (The Sacred Mirror) reassesses the life and legacy of U.S. vice president and South Carolina senator John C. Calhoun (1782–1850) in this comprehensive biography. Elder skillfully tracks Calhoun’s unusual political career trajectory, from his advocacy for war with England as a freshman congressman in 1811, to his modernization of the U.S. Army as secretary of war, resignation as Andrew Jackson’s vice president and return to Congress in 1832 as a strident advocate for states’ rights, and calls for a constitutional amendment protecting slavery in the weeks before his death in 1850. Elder scrutinizes Calhoun’s creative interpretations of the U.S. Constitution and forthrightly documents his deep-rooted belief in white supremacy, but understates his political failings, including his knack for turning allies into enemies and the single-mindedness that doomed his presidential ambitions and contributed to his brief and ineffectual tenure as secretary of state in 1844–1845. Still, Elder is a graceful writer who persuasively argues that the beliefs and policies Calhoun amplified continue to shape American politics. Readers with a keen interest in the pre–Civil War era and a strong stomach for objectionable viewpoints will gain insight from this expert account. (Feb.)