LAD #13 Calhoun's Speech on Clay's Compromise Measures

Summary of John Calhoun's Speech on Clay's Compromise of 1850, in regards to slavery in Texas:

(Speech was read by another senator, as Calhoun was too ill to read it himself. The speech was read on March 4, 1850, and Calhoun passed away March 31, that same month.)

Calhoun recognized that the unity of the Union was threatened. He goes on to discuss the issues that were endangering the Union.

The Southern States were originally agitated by the slavery question, and their discontent has grown, despite the meager calming influence of widespread political parties. The overpowering force of the North in government has overshadowed the South, which was caused by the North's greater number of States and greater population. And the growth in States in the North showed no signs of letting up. Thus, the North will gain a much larger representation in the Senate over the South.

Also, the South claims that their States have been restricted in land claims (in the Northern attempts to receive Texas) and have received an undue amount of taxation, while the North gained territory and most of the benefits of taxes. Similarly, the South is a major exporter of goods, and thus was hard hit by the tariffs, and it has few factories, and thus did not receive the benefits of the duties taxes.

The slavery question is particularly perplexing, and as the North pushes so ardently for abolition, Calhoun believes abolition or secession are the only options available for the South. To prevent the dissolution of the nation's unity, Calhoun pleads to appease the demands of the Southern States, claiming that appeasing them will remove the source of agitation that initiated the Southern discontent. However, he claims that only the stronger power, the North, can institute a Constitutional amendment to re-establish the equilibrium between the North and the South. He then rawly challenges the Senators to make their choice, reducing the issue to either submitting to Calhoun's idea of Northern support or to forcing the Southern secession. He even proclaims that California will be a test, and if it is admitted under Northern conditions, the South will interpret the situation as though the North were deliberately crushing the South for ambitions of power and aggrandizement.