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Robert Elder's biography of John C. Calhoun situates today's nullification in U.S. history.
Yes, WSJ. I make this one exception to post what I consider a pretty darned good book review for a biography of an historical figure who still drives the politics of today. This review (and WSJ) show that they recognize the intellectual roots of today's right wing, which we should not be ignorant of, either.
In the course of his chronicle, Mr. Elder traces how Calhoun’s thinking continues to influence American society today and shows how academic scholarship has moved ever closer to accepting Calhoun’s once shocking ideas about the role of slavery in American history.
In writings published after his death, Calhoun said more about one particular concession he had begun to consider: a constitutional amendment that would transform the executive branch by giving each region of the country its own president and, thus, its own veto. In such a way, he believed, the U.S. would achieve the true aim of constitutional government: rule not by the numerical majority, which he believed would always result in one group wielding power to the detriment of another, but by the “concurrent majority,” an arrangement that would require the consent of all groups.
That Calhoun had the protection of slaveholders in mind has not stopped his theory from resurfacing in other contexts, as Mr. Elder tells us, from power-sharing proposals in post-apartheid South Africa to the peace process in Northern Ireland. In what Mr. Elder calls the “most fascinating twist,” traces of Calhoun’s arguments have even appeared in proposals for “exactly the opposite of what he wanted”—that is, special protections for racial minorities.
Attempts to make Calhoun fit neatly into our current politics miss the message of this much-needed biography. Calhoun “belongs at the center of the stories we tell about our past,” Mr. Elder writes. Ironically, Calhoun predicted that, if North and South ever split apart over slavery—as they did a decade after his death—future generations would tell a different story of our past, beginning with what he considered a disastrous error: the decision by Jefferson to include the words “all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence. Those words, as Lincoln would say, laid a foundation for slavery’s demise and marked the beginning of a country dedicated to principles more noble than we sometimes remember today.
In writings published after his death, Calhoun said more about one particular concession he had begun to consider: a constitutional amendment that would transform the executive branch by giving each region of the country its own president and, thus, its own veto. In such a way, he believed, the U.S. would achieve the true aim of constitutional government: rule not by the numerical majority, which he believed would always result in one group wielding power to the detriment of another, but by the “concurrent majority,” an arrangement that would require the consent of all groups.
That Calhoun had the protection of slaveholders in mind has not stopped his theory from resurfacing in other contexts, as Mr. Elder tells us, from power-sharing proposals in post-apartheid South Africa to the peace process in Northern Ireland. In what Mr. Elder calls the “most fascinating twist,” traces of Calhoun’s arguments have even appeared in proposals for “exactly the opposite of what he wanted”—that is, special protections for racial minorities.
Attempts to make Calhoun fit neatly into our current politics miss the message of this much-needed biography. Calhoun “belongs at the center of the stories we tell about our past,” Mr. Elder writes. Ironically, Calhoun predicted that, if North and South ever split apart over slavery—as they did a decade after his death—future generations would tell a different story of our past, beginning with what he considered a disastrous error: the decision by Jefferson to include the words “all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence. Those words, as Lincoln would say, laid a foundation for slavery’s demise and marked the beginning of a country dedicated to principles more noble than we sometimes remember today.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/calhoun-review-the-nullifiers-mixed-legacy-11612541709
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