Counterbalance:John C. Calhoun And Constitutional Argumentations At The Early Period Of The United States

In 1787, through constitutional debates of several months at the Constitutional Convention, the founding fathers eventually entrenched the United States Constitution based on the principles of check and balance. However, the entrenched Constitution failed to solve the counterbalance of federalism and localism that support the states’right. Both of two elements countered and supplemented one anther in the settlement and development of political institutions in the USA. John Caldwell Calhoun (1782-1850) was an American politician and political theorist from South Carolina who lived during the 18th and 19th centuries. Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist and proponent of a strong national government and protective tariffs. After 1830, because of the transitional political situation, expanding territory and reintegrating the resources and the interests of all groups, Calhoun deepened the understanding of the whole community. Faced with more and more severe confrontations between federalism and states’right localism, he became a greater proponent of protecting the states’interests from encroaching from federal government. Calhoun risked his future political career to fight against Andrew Jackson administration, for opposing the tariff policies that encroached the rights and interests of Southern states. He declared that the federal Tariffs were unconstitutional and therefore null and void within the sovereign boundaries of the state. Next, abolitionist movements led Southern states to the irreparable situation so that Calhoun, as the proponent of states’interests, leading the South toward secession from the Union. In fact, he is more of the politician who supports the states’right and session. This thesis would illustrate constantly Calhoun’s political thoughts and philosophical theories. With the widely explanation of "two kinds of majorities", it is much more easy to understand constitutionally what is the "concurrent majority". Based on his political thoughts, the dual nature of political institutions of the United States could be uncovered in more practical and spiritual ways. In the last chapter, it is a new perspective of views to be discovered since clarifying the meaning of slavery, which is a new issue beyond the community institution.