Quote#Nature
I am a Southern man and a slaveholder. A kind and merciful one, I…
Quote byJohn C. Calhoun · 1782–1850
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Speech in the U.S. Senate (19 February 1847).
English (original)
I am a Southern man and a slaveholder. A kind and merciful one, I trust, and none the worse for being a slaveholder. I say, for one, I would rather meet any extremity upon earth than give up one inch of our equality, one inch of what belongs to us as members of this republic! What! Acknowledged inferiority! The surrender of life is nothing to sinking down into acknowledged inferiority!
— John C. Calhoun
More from John C. Calhoun
The Government of the absolute majority instead of the Government of the people is but the Government of the strongest interests; and when not efficiently checked, it is the most tyrannical and oppressive that can be devised.
the sovereign power is divided between the states and general government
Protection and patriotism are reciprocal.
it will be impossible to deny to the states the right of deciding on the infraction of their rights, and the proper remedy to be applied for the correction
The neighboring tribes are becoming daily less warlike, and more helpless and dependent on us … [T]hey have, in a great measure, ceased to be an object of terror, and have become that of commiseration.
The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or a party.