John C. Calhoun was born into a wealthy family in South Carolina. His father, a slaveholding planter, served in the state legislature. Calhoun graduated from Yale in 1804. After studying law, he was elected to the South Carolina state legislature. In 1811 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Calhoun supported a large and active federal government. He argued for the creation of a national bank and national programs to improve the country's infrastructure. President James Monroe appointed him secretary of war in 1817. Calhoun served as vice president under two different presidents, John Quincy Adams (1825­29) and Andrew Jackson (1829­32). He became a U.S. Senator in 1832. While secretary of state from 1844 to 1845, Calhoun helped secure the annexation of Texas. He returned to the Senate in 1845 where he was a leading supporter of states' rights. He wrote an anonymous essay in which he argued that the states had the right to nullify any federal law that they considered unconstitutional. Calhoun served in the Senate until his death in 1850.
