Calhoun, John C. 

7th Vice President of the United States, 1825-1832.  Born: March 18, 1782; Abbeville, South Carolina.  Died: March 31, 1850; Washington D.C.  Calhoun was a member of the House of Representatives, March 4, 1811 – November 3, 1817.  He served as the 10th U.S. Secretary of War, December 8, 1817 – March 4, 1825; 16th Secretary of State, April 1, 1844 – March 10, 1845; a U.S. Senator from South Carolina, November 26, 1845 – March 31, 1850.  Calhoun often considered himself an independent, having, in his political career, aligned with the Jeffersonian Republicans, the Whigs, and the Democrats on different issues at different times.  He began his political career as a nationalist, and a proponent of a strong national government.  In the late 1820s, his views changed radically and he became a leading proponent of States’ rights, laissez faire, nullification, and opposition to high tariffs.  He recognized that Northern acceptance of these constitutional concepts may be the only way to keep the South in the Union.  The record of his stances later strongly influenced the South’s decision to secede from the Union after the Election of 1860, and during the months preceding the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln in 1861.  As Secretary of State under John Tyler from 1844 to 1845, Calhoun supported the annexation of Texas as a means to maintain balance in the government for the slave States in the South.  He also helped settle the Oregon boundary dispute with Britain.  Later, as a member of the U.S. Senate, he opposed the Mexican–American War, the Wilmot Proviso, and the Compromise of 1850.  During his career, after the emergence of the Whig Party, Calhoun was known to align with the new party as if he was an independent, even though he belonged to the Democrat Party.