Calhoun's Theory Of Equality
John C. Calhoun maintained his support for the institution of slavery throughout his career in public service. In his Speech on the Oregon Bill, he fiercely criticized one of the nation’s founding tenets: the self-evident truth that all men are created equal. According to Calhoun, it is adherence to this creed that will lead to the downfall of the Union and our style of government. He calls the ideal expressed by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence a “false and dangerous . . . political error,” and warns his fellow Senators that the nation as they knew it would eventually collapse as a result of continued turmoil related to the increasing hostility between the slaveholding and free states. At the heart of his argument is the rejection
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In a letter to Henry Lee in May 1825, Jefferson explained that the Declaration’s “authority rests then on the harmonizing sentiments of the day,” and that “it was intended to be an expression of the American mind.” Although all men in the American nation were not, in fact, free and equal at the time the Declaration was written, according to the theory of natural rights, men have equality because they are men. Because we are all human, no one person should be able to rule another without the other’s consent. Where Calhoun views equality as sameness (same level in society, same physical and mental capacities, same level of wealth, etc.), Jefferson and the Founders intended equality to mean equal in natural rights, such as the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Equality of opportunity, regardless of one’s gender, race, ethnicity, or religion, and the idea that no one may claim the right to rule over others who are different in some way was the goal of including equality in the Declaration. In addition, Calhoun approaches the topic of slavery from the opinion that slavery is actually a positive influence on the South and perhaps the entire United States. In his 1837 speech, “Slavery a Positive Good,” Calhoun made the argument that in all of history there has been one class of people that lived off the labor of another class. He extols the care and concern shown by masters toward their slaves, and praises the stability of the local governments in the South and attributes that stability to the “stability” of the relationship between the enslaved labor force and their
In a letter to Henry Lee in May 1825, Jefferson explained that the Declaration’s “authority rests then on the harmonizing sentiments of the day,” and that “it was intended to be an expression of the American mind.” Although all men in the American nation were not, in fact, free and equal at the time the Declaration was written, according to the theory of natural rights, men have equality because they are men. Because we are all human, no one person should be able to rule another without the other’s consent. Where Calhoun views equality as sameness (same level in society, same physical and mental capacities, same level of wealth, etc.), Jefferson and the Founders intended equality to mean equal in natural rights, such as the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Equality of opportunity, regardless of one’s gender, race, ethnicity, or religion, and the idea that no one may claim the right to rule over others who are different in some way was the goal of including equality in the Declaration. In addition, Calhoun approaches the topic of slavery from the opinion that slavery is actually a positive influence on the South and perhaps the entire United States. In his 1837 speech, “Slavery a Positive Good,” Calhoun made the argument that in all of history there has been one class of people that lived off the labor of another class. He extols the care and concern shown by masters toward their slaves, and praises the stability of the local governments in the South and attributes that stability to the “stability” of the relationship between the enslaved labor force and their