„Our peculiar institution” – the Problem of Slavery in the Political Thought of John Caldwell Calhoun

John C. Calhoun was an American statesman, political theorist, senator, secretary of war and seventh vice-president of the United States from 1825 to 1832. Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist, moderniser, supporter of a strong federal government and protective tariffs. He later became a Southern leader and a major proponent of states' rights, limited government and nullification. During his political career, he defended slavery as part of the Southern social structure and the basis of the agricultural economy. While other Southern politicians justified slavery as a ‘necessary evil‘, Calhoun, in his famous Senate speech in 1837, stated that slavery was a “positive good”. In this article, the author explores the basis of this Calhoun stance. He wonders whether Calhoun's intricate political theory functioned only as a means to preserve slavery, or whether Calhoun was compelled to defend it because of the South's particular social and economic circumstances.