Our Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850 to Gilbert C. Rice

Order a pdf of this item here.

Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03193 Author/Creator: Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850 Place Written: Clemson, South Carolina Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 16 October 1848 Pagination: 3 p. : envelope : free frank Height: 18 cm, Width: 11.2 cm Order a Copy

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 bearing Calhoun's free frank.

Written at Fort Hill

Calhoun, John Caldwell, 1782-1850
Rice, Gilbert C., fl. 1848

Citation Guidelines for Online Resources