Analysis of The Disquisition of Government by John Calhoun
The Disquisition of Government by John Calhoun was written as a document to primarily defend the ideologies of the South. It was a work of that elaborated on John Calhoun’s Political Theory, which mentions the idea of a “concurrent majority”, which is that a concurrent majority on an issue is one composed of an agreement of the most important minority interests in a society. He believed that a constitution having a majority behind it would protect people against the numerical majority. Calhoun tries to show in the Disquisition of Government, that a majority rule by equal and competent individuals counterbalances a minority rule for a society that has a balance of liberty, rights and power.
There are three main parts of his argument. The first part of his argument delves into the nature of man and government. This part investigates the role of natural vs. implied rights and it’s role in the creation of a government. The second part of his argument deals with the “concurrent” vs. “numerical” majority, which deals with the ideals of a majority against the ideals of a minority and a numerical faction. The third part of his argument deals with liberty, rights, power and security. I believe this part is most crucial because not everyone is implied to be free, but rather people need to deserve their freedom. This can’t be true, because people on American history because of their race and gender were not allowed to live by some of theories granted in the Disquisition of Government.
Calhoun saw himself as the heir of Thomas Jefferson and the Republican tradition, but he was a reactionary Republican that rejected both the liberal philosophy of
natural rights and th...
... middle of paper ...
...pate in a society because of race and gender. While the Disquisition of Government, is seen as a great work in American politics, his views, political theory and ideology are off base to certain segments of the American population, and his thoughts would help to maintain slavery.
Bibliography:
Calhoun, John C. A Disquisition on Government. 1851.
Calhoun, John C. The Papers of John C. Calhoun. Robert L. Meriweather, W. Edwin Hemphill, et al., eds. 16 vols. Columbia, SC, 195
Correspondence of John C. Calhoun. J. Franklin Jameson, ed. Annual Report of the American Historical Association 1899. II. 1900.
Eibling, Harold H., et al., eds. History of Our United States. 2nd edition. River Forest, Ill: Laidlaw Brothers, 1968.
Marmor, Theodore R. The Career of John C. Calhoun: Politician, Social Critic, Political Philosopher. New York: Garland, 1988.
Heidler, David Stephen, and Jeanne T. Heidler, eds. Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: a
...he Oxford Journals, The Journal of American History, Volume 93, Issue 1.2013. Accessed November 20, 2013. http://jah.oxfordjournals.org/content/93/1/290.extract.
Edward, Rebecca and Henretta, James and Self, Robert. America A Concise History. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2012.
Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. Print.
4. Excerpt from Senate Report 693, 46th Congress, 2nd Session (1880). Posted on PBS.org December 19, 2003. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/sharecrop/ps_adams.html
... William Lloyd Garrison the main idea of which is to set free the enslaved ones and establish legal state based on true democracy and equality of people. This moment is especially powerful because it allows Douglass to extend the scope of his influence. He makes an attempt to show that all people are the same, there are no exceptions. There will also come times when things will change as long as there are people who can recognize and tolerate otherness without harming this Other.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. Copyright 1994 by Oxford University Press. Kennedy, Richard S. http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-00394.html; American National Biography Online, Feb. 2000. Access Date: Sun Mar 18 12:31:47 2001 Copyright 2000 American Council of Learned Societies.
Walens, Susann. A. United States History Since 1877. Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT. September 2007.
Clay, Henry. The Papers of Henry Clay, 1797-1852. Edited by James Hopkins, Mary Hargreaves, Robert Seager II, Melba Porter Hay et al. 11 vols. University Press of Kentucky, 1959-1992.
I will conduct internet research, review various books written at different times in history, review periodicals, including the Charleston Mercury, and review letters and speeches written by John C. Calhoun and Andrew Jackson during this period.
Divine, Robert A. America past and Present. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education/Longman, 2013. 245. Print.
Brennan, Linda Crotta. The Birth of the United States. Ann Arbor: Cherry Lake, 2011. Print.
Documents of American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress). N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
3. Divine, Breen, Fredrickson, Williams, eds., America Past and Present Volume II: since 1865 sixth edition (New York: Longman 2002).
Breen, T.H., H.W. Brands, et al. America: Past and Present. Upper Saddle River NJ: Pearson, Print.