2 July 1844

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Letter signed

Title: to William McPherson

Secretary of State Calhoun asks U.S. Attorney for the District of Missouri McPherson that execution of convicted murderers John McDaniel and Joseph Brown be stayed. He adds "It is not... designed, by this interference, to create any hope of the ultimate pardon of these men, but merely that time may be allowed to examine into the credibility of [Orrin P.] Rockwell," a new witness who claimed to have received a confession from William Mason.

GLC03019

16 October 1848

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Gilbert C. Rice

Calhoun, a U.S. Senator from South Carolina, writes to Rice at Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Cannot furnish Rice with requested documents (a speech he delivered in Senate and a letter by "Hammond"). Argues that neither the Whigs nor the Democrats have dealt with the question of abolition appropriately: "I fear the abolition question has been permitted by the North to progress too far to be arrested. Neither party has met it as it ought to have been... The South begins to lose all confidence & must look to itself for protection..." Accompanied by two envelopes, both addressed to Rice, one…

GLC03193

20 May 1818

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Document signed

Title: [Appointment of David Vinton to West Point]

Document signed by Calhoun as Secretary of War in the Monroe Administration. Official document appoints David Hammond Vinton of Providence, Rhode Island, as a cadet at West Point. Asks him to notify the Department of War of his acceptance or non-acceptance. If he accepts he has to report to West Point, New York, in September. Also prints qualifications for admission at the bottom. At the very bottom is a note in pencil that says "Care of Mrs. Mary Vinton." Vinton graduated in 1822 as an artillerist, but transferred to the infantry in 1823 and served most of his career in the quartermaster…

GLC03496

1 January 1842

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Grayson

Recommends a friend, Elias Brown, for the post of clerk of the court for Carroll County, [Maryland]. Informs that the Senate has the Exchequer scheme under consideration. Says that the Clay Whigs (Henry Clay) are against it. Mentions that they are also against President John Tyler and his administration especially Secretary of State Daniel Webster. Comments on the division in Whig ranks, "The division in their ranks can never be healed; and if it could, they can never rise under their present name, nor on the measures they support."

GLC04995

1 September 1848

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Wilson Lumpkin

Here, Calhoun concurs with Lumpkin's views on nullification, the Union, and the differences between [the] North and the South. "The question between the North & South is ... a mere question of power. The pretext of bettering the condition of the Slave is laid asside. The only alternative left as is, shall we resist, or surrender, & thus in fact change condition with our Slaves." States that the South's condition is hopeless unless they can unite their parties. Feels that both candidates [presidential nominees Zachary Taylor and Lewis Cass] for election are useless. "What madness, to…

GLC06317

1850

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Pamphlet

Title: Address of the Hon. John C. Calhoun, in the Senate of the United States, on the subject of slavery.

Title page missing. Appears to have been removed from a larger volume. Calhoun's speech was read for him by James Mason, 4 March 1850. Argues that the power of legislating over California "is vested in Congress, and not, as is assumed, in the inhabitants of the territories."

GLC00267.376

June 10, 1832

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Autograph letter signed

Title: to S.L. Gouverneur

Vice President Calhoun wrote this letter after his falling out with President Andrew Jackson over Jackson's pursuit of the Seminole Indians into Florida during the first Seminole War. Discusses the Seminole Affair and questions a recently published article that claims Jackson had invaded Florida on secret orders from President Monroe. Calhoun had disapproved of Jackson's actions and considers this a "wicked attempt top transfer the odium from where it ought to rest & to place it on the memory of Mr. Monroe."

GLC01118

15 June 1838

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Autograph letter signed

Title: to David Hubbard

Written by Calhoun in blue ink, concerning his support for (and failure to get) a rail route from Georgia to the west, instead of through Ohio. He concludes that southern rail routes will unite the slaveholding states and change commercial and political affairs of the Union.

GLC02320.01

April 19, 1844

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Silas M. Stilwell

Encloses further respite of execution for David Babe, alias William Brown. Silas M. Stillwell was the U.S. Marshall at New York.

GLC01486

circa February 12, 1825

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Autograph letter signed

Title: to R. S. Garnett

Asks for a copy of a letter to Andrew Jackson, as well as a contract. Dated 12 February without a year, but probably written before 1825 as Secretary of War. Recipient's name is difficult to fully read.

GLC02504.06

1837

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Header Record

Title: [Two senate motions] [Decimalized .01-.02]

Two motions, one submitted by John C. Calhoun and one by John Norvell. Calhoun's resolution is well-known for establishing the orthodox state rights position. In his resolution, Norvell, the Democratic-Republican Senator from Michigan, agrees with Calhoun.

GLC00267.021

30 March 1818

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Manuscript letter

Title: to Ferris Pell [copy]

Copy of a letter from Calhoun to Pell discussing the case "of the claims of the state of New York against the United States, for disbursements on account of Militia in the late War," referring to the War of 1812. Written from the Department of War. Pell is identified as the "Agent of N. York."

GLC06313.04.061

December 27, 1837

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Printed document

Title: In the Senate of the United States. December 27, 1837. Mr. Calhoun submitted the following motion for consideration.

25th Congress, 2d session, no. 47. Calhoun's famous resolution establishing the orthodox state rights position. "Resolved, That in delegating a portion of their powers to be exercised by the Federal Government, the States retained, severally, the exclusive and sole right over their own domestic institutions and police, and are alone responsible for them ..." Resolves that slavery in the southern and western states is an essential domestic element of those states and was in existence at the adoption of their constitutions.

GLC00267.021.01

1818/12/29

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Letter signed

Title: to Richard Graham and Joseph Philips

Secretary of State Calhoun denies an appropriation request because he did not receive a detailed estimate of expenses. Indicates that he will attempt to have the senate increase the appropriation but advises them to keep their disbursements to the original appropriation.

GLC02146.17