aining, gave a peculiar strenuousness to his
support of slavery, which is of course the corner-stone of his political
philosophy; and determined his reliance upon logic rather than upon an
appeal to the passions as the best means of inculcating his teaching and
of establishing his policy. His political treatises, 'A Discourse on
Government' and 'On the Constitution and Government of the United
States,' written just before his death in 1850; his pamphlets like the
'South Carolina Exposition' and the 'Address to the People of South
Carolina'; and the great speeches delivered in the Senate from 1832 to
the end of his term, especially those in which he defended against
Webster the doctrine of nullification, could have emanated only from an
up-country South-Carolinian who had inherited the mantle of Jefferson,
and had sat at the feet of John Taylor of Carolina and of John Randolph
of Roanoke. Calhoun was, then, the logical outcome of his environment
and his training; he was the fearless and honest representative of his
people and section; and he was the master from whom rash disciples like
Jefferson Davis broke away, when they found that logical analysis of the
Constitution was a poor prop for slavery against the rising tide of
civilization.

As a thinker Calhoun is remarkable for great powers of analysis and
exposition. As a writer he is chiefly noted for the even dignity and
general serviceableness of his style. He writes well, but rather like a
logician than like an inspired orator. He has not the stateliness of
Webster, and is devoid of the power of arousing enthusiasm. The splendor
of Burke's imagination is utterly beyond him, as is also the
epigrammatic brilliance of John Randolph,--from whom, however, he took
not a few lessons in constitutional interpretation. Indeed, it must be
confessed that for all his clearness and subtlety of intellect as a
thinker, Calhoun is as a writer distinctly heavy. In this as in many
other respects he reminds us of the Romans, to whom he was continually
referring. Like them he is conspicuous for strength of practical
intellect; like them he is lacking in sublimity, charm, and nobility. It
follows then that Calhoun will rarely be resorted to as a model of
eloquence, but that he will continue to be read both on account of the
substantial additions he made to political philosophy, and of the
interesting exposition he gave of theories and ideas once potent in the
nation's history.

[Illustr