ABSTRACT
John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) emerged as the most deeply committed southern spokesman working within the context of national expectations. His resolutions offered in the United States Senate, December 27, 1837, were intended to affirm the right of the slave states to be secure in their prop erty, to receive defense from the assaults of abolitionists, and to expand their territorial holdings into Texas and elsewhere. The following day he elabo rated on the resolutions, taking special note of the argument that the aboli tionists were not disunionists, that they aimed only at freeing a handful of slaves in the District of Columbia and the Territories, and that they consti tuted a weak, frail group, including “a large portion of females. ”
