33+ John C. Calhoun Quotes (Politician, Slavery And Union)

John C. Calhoun was an American statesman who served as the seventh Vice President of the United States from 1825 to 1832. He was a prominent pro-slavery advocate during the first half of the 19th century and a major figure in the history of the American South. He also served as Secretary of War and as a Senator from South Carolina.

Top 10 John C. Calhoun Quotes

1. There never has yet existed a wealthy and civilized society in which one portion of the community did not, in point of fact, live on the labor of the other.
2. Irresponsible power is inconsistent with liberty, and must corrupt those who exercise it.
3. I never use the word nation in speaking of the United States. I always use the word Union or Confederacy. We are not a nation but a union, a confederacy of equal and sovereign States.
4. The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or a party.
5. Beware the wrath of a patient adversary.
6. Learn from your mistakes and build on your successes.
7. The surrender of life is nothing to sinking down into acknowledgment of inferiority.
8. True consistency, that of the prudent and the wise, is to act in conformity with circumstances, and not to act always the same way under a change of circumstances.
9. Property is in its nature timid and seeks protection, and nothing is more gratifying to government than to become a protector.
10. Protection and patriotism are reciprocal.

John C. Calhoun Short Quotes

• We are not a nation, but a union, a confederacy of equal and sovereign states.
• The will of a majority is the will of a rabble. Progressive democracy is incompatable with liberty.
• Government has within it a tendency to abuse its powers.
• A revolution in itself is not a blessing.
• In looking back, I see nothing to regret and little to correct.
• It is harder to preserve than to obtain liberty.

John C. Calhoun Famous Quotes And Sayings

Government has no right to control individual liberty beyond what is necessary to the safety and well-being of society. Such is the boundary which separates the power of the government and the liberty of the citizen or subject in the political state. — John C. Calhoun

If we do not defend ourselves none will defend us; if we yield we will be more and more pressed as we recede; and if we submit we will be trampled under foot. I hold concession or compromise to be fatal. If we concede an inch, concession would follow compromise, until our ranks would be so broken that effectual resistance would be impossible. — John C. Calhoun

The interval between the decay of the old and the formation and establishment of the new constitutes a period of transition which must always necessarily be one of uncertainty, confusion, error, and wild and fierce fanaticism. — John C. Calhoun

A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks. — John C. Calhoun

The Government of the absolute majority instead of the Government of the people is but the Government of the strongest interests; and when not efficiently checked, it is the most tyrannical and oppressive that can be devised. — John C. Calhoun

I never know what South Carolina thinks of a measure. I never consult her. I act to the best of my judgment, and according to my conscience. If she approves, well and good. If she does not, or wishes any one to take my place, I am ready to vacate. We are even. — John C. Calhoun

The error is in the assumption that the General Government is a party to the constitutional compact. The States ... formed the compact, acting as sovereign and independent communities. — John C. Calhoun

Our well-founded claim, grounded on continuity, has greatly strengthened, during the same period, by the rapid advance of our population toward the territoryits great increase, especially in the valley of the Mississippias well as the greatly increased facility of passing to the territory by more accessible routes, and the far stronger and rapidly-swelling tide of population that has recently commenced flowing into it. — John C. Calhoun

Democracy, as I understand it, requires me to sacrifice myself for the masses, not to them. Who knows not that if you would save the people, you must often oppose them? — John C. Calhoun

To maintain the ascendancy of the Constitution over the lawmaking majority is the great and essential point on which the success of the [American] system must depend; unless that ascendancy can be preserved, the necessary consequence must be that the laws will supersede the Constitution; and, finally, the will of the Executive, by influence of its patronage, will supersede the laws . . . — John C. Calhoun

It is federal, because it is the government of States united in a political union, in contradistinction to a government of individuals, that is, by what is usually called, a social compact. To express it more concisely, it is federal and not national because it is the government of a community of States, and not the government of a single State or Nation. — John C. Calhoun

How can those who are invested with the power of government be prevented from the abuse of those powers as the means of aggrandizing themselves? ... Without a strong constitution to counteract the strong tendency of government to disorder and abuse there can be little progress or improvement. — John C. Calhoun

The defence of human liberty against the aggressions of despotic power have been always the most efficient in States where domestic slavery was to prevail. — John C. Calhoun

We have had so many years of prosperity, we have passed through so many difficulties and dangers without the loss of liberty - that we begin to think that we hold it by divine right from heaven itself ... It is harder to preserve than to obtain liberty. — John C. Calhoun

The object of a Constitution is to restrain the Government, as that of laws is to restrain individuals. — John C. Calhoun

Stripped of all its covering, the naked question is, whether ours is a federal or consolidated government; a constitutional or absolute one; a government resting solidly on the basis of the sovereignty of the States, or on the unrestrained will of a majority; a form of government, as in all other unlimited ones, in which injustice, violence, and force must ultimately prevail. — John C. Calhoun

Of all earthly blessings, I place Liberty in the first rank, and of course, consider the obligation to defend and preserve it, as the most sacred of all our civil and social duties... It is not in the power of any single, or few individuals to preserve liberty. It can only be effected by the people themselves; by their intelligence, virtue, courage, and patriotism. — John C. Calhoun

Life Lessons by John C. Calhoun

1. John C. Calhoun taught the importance of understanding the complexities of a situation before making a decision, as well as the need to be open to different perspectives.
2. He also emphasized the importance of being a good listener, being willing to compromise, and having the courage to stand up for what you believe in.
3. Lastly, Calhoun highlighted the importance of being an effective leader, who is able to inspire and motivate others to reach their goals.