John Calhoun on Slavery

John Calhoun on Slavery

Calhoun's view was that slavery ought not to be considered, as it exists in the United States, in the abstract; but rather as a political institution, existing prior to the formation of the government and expressly recognized in the Constitution. The framers of that instrument regarded slaves as property, and admitted the right of ownership in them.

Calhoun's fundamental enterprise was to defend the institution of slavery. To do so, he first had to overturn the principles of the American Founding. He started with the Declaration of Independence, arguing that the proposition all men are created equal as now understood, has become the most false and dangerous of all political errors. Thus Calhoun transformed the Democratic Party of Jefferson into the Party of Slavery.

The growth of the Northern abolition movement and attempts by Northern politicians to push the federal government to act against slavery confirmed for Calhoun that the North intended to exercise its power as a majority to the detriment of Southern interests. He responded to these attacks with the argument that the Constitution gave Congress no regulatory power over slavery. Even compromise was not possible, in his opinion.

As the antislavery movement continued to build up steam, Calhoun continually found himself having to defend slavery on moral, ethical, and political grounds. Calhoun had a large role in bringing about slavery. Calhoun endorsed slavery as "a good, a great good," based on his belief in the inequality inherent in the human race. Calhoun believed that people were motivated primarily by self-interest and that competition among them was a positive expression of human nature. The results of this competition were displayed for al...

... middle of paper ...

...ing slavery, he extended his argument to indict the North and industrial capitalism. He asserted that the slave system was actually superior to the wage slavery of the North. He believed that slavery, by intertwining the economic interests of master and slave, eliminated the unavoidable conflict that existed between labor and capital under the wage system. But amount of money a master invested in his slaves made it economically feasible to mistreat them and ignore their working and living conditions.

Without Calhoun, the Southern institution of slavery would have disappeared, and would not have remained a black mark on the history of the United States and on Calhoun's reputation. Calhoun does not deserve a prominent place in the history of American political thought because he fought to protect the Southern minority's rights and interests from the Northern majority.