John C. Calhoun by Mathew Brady 1849 Ceramic Tree Decoration

John Caldwell Calhoun (March 18, 1782 – March 31, 1850) was a leading American politician and political theorist from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century. Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent of a strong national government and protective tariffs. After 1830, his views evolved and he became a greater proponent of states' rights, limited government, nullification and free trade; as he saw these means as the only way to preserve the Union. He is best known for his intense and original defence of slavery as something positive, his distrust of majoritarianism, and for pointing the South towards secession from the Union.