John C. Calhoun


Other Name:
John Caldwell Calhoun
Gender:
Male
Born:
March 18, 1782
Died:
March 31, 1850
Home Town:
Abbeville, SC
Later Residences:
Long Crane, SC
Pendleton, SC
Washington, District of Columbia
Marriage(s):
Floride Bonneau Calhoun (January 1811)
Biographical Notes:
John C. Calhoun was born in South Carolina, March 18, 1782. He spent his youth and formative education in South Carolina and moved north to attend Yale, graduating in 1804. Calhoun attended the Litchfield Law School from July 1805-July 1806. He returned to South Carolina where he read law with Henry William DeSaussure, who had written a letter of introduction to Benjamin Tallmadge presenting Calhoun, who intended to study with Reeve. Calhoun was admitted to the bar in 1807.

He was elected a member of the South Carolina state house of representatives for a year 1808-1809, running as a Democratic Republican. In 1810, Calhoun wrote a letter of introduction to Tapping Reeve informing him that William Martin proposed to attend his "much valued" Law School. Calhoun provided character ...
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Education
Years at LLS:
1805-1806
Other Education:
Graduated from Yale College in 1804.

Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer; Political Office
Admitted To Bar:
South Carolina in 1807
Political Party:
Democrat; Nullifier; Democratic Republican
Federal Posts:
U.S. Representative (SC) 1811-1818
Secretary of War 1817-1825
Vice-President 1824-1832
U.S. Senator (SC) 1832-1850
Secretary of State 1844-1845
Federal Committees:
Chairman of the Committee on Finance from 1845-1846.
State Posts:
State Representative (SC) 1808-1809

Related Objects and Documents
In the Ledger:
help The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation.

Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.
CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:
Litchfield County Bar Association Records, 1805, Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library, Litchfield Historical Society.

Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School, Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany and Company, 1849, 5.

Calhoun, John C. to Tapping ReeveLitchfield Law School Collection Series 1, Subseries 3, Folder 1. Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library, Litchfield Historical Society
Secondary Sources:
Hatfield, Mark O. Vice Presidents of the United States: John C. Calhoun (1825 - 1832). Reprinted from Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789 - 1993. Washington, D. C.: U.S. Government Printing Offices, 1997. http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/john_calhoun.pdf

History.com, "John C. Calhoun." http://www.history.com/topics/john-c-calhoun

O'Neall, John Belton. Biographical Sketches of the Bench and Bar of South Carolina, Vol. 1. Reprint Co., 1975.

The Negro In American History, Vol. 3. Ency. Brit. Ed Corp, 1969.

Meigs, William M. The Life of John Caldwell Calhoun. The Neale Publishing Company: New York, 1917.

Salley, A. S. (Alexander Samuel), The Calhoun family of South Carolina,...
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If you have family papers, objects, or any other details you would like to share, or if you would like to obtain a copy of an image for publication, please contact us at curator@litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org.