Property is in its nature timid and seeks protection, and nothing is more gratifying to government than to become a protector. John C. Calhoun More Quotes by John C. Calhoun More Quotes From John C. Calhoun Protection and patriotism are reciprocal. This is the way which has led nations to greatness. John C. Calhoun patriotism protection greatness way It has been lately urged in a very respectable quarter that it is the mission of this country to spread civil and religious liberty all over the globe, and especially over this continent - even by force, if necessary. It is a sad delusion. John C. Calhoun mission sad liberty country Our government is deeply disordered; its credit is impaired; its debt increasing; its expenditures extravagant and wasteful; its disbursements without efficient accountability; and its taxes (for duties are but taxes) enormous, unequal, and oppressive to the great producing classes of the country. John C. Calhoun great credit government country There is no direct and immediate connection between the individual citizens of a state and the general government. The relation between them is through the state. The Union is a union of states as communities and not a union of individuals. John C. Calhoun connection general through government The danger in our system is that the general government, which represents the interests of the whole, may encroach on the states, which represent the peculiar and local interests, or that the latter may encroach on the former. John C. Calhoun system government danger may Peace is, indeed, our policy. A kind Providence has cast our lot on a portion of the globe sufficiently vast to satisfy the most grasping ambition, and abounding in resources beyond all others, which only require to be fully developed to make us the greatest and most prosperous people on earth. John C. Calhoun ambition earth peace people I am, on principle, opposed to war and in favor of peace because I regard peace as a positive good and war as a positive evil. John C. Calhoun good positive war peace There is not an example on record of any free state holding a province of the same extent and population without disastrous consequences. The nations conquered and held as a province have, in time, retaliated by destroying the liberty of their conquerors through the corrupting effect of extended patronage and irresponsible power. John C. Calhoun free liberty power time It is admitted on all sides that we must equalize the revenue and expenditures. The scheme of borrowing to make up an increasing deficit must, in the end, if continued, prove ruinous. John C. Calhoun in-the-end end prove sides There is a tendency in all parties, when they have been for a long time in possession of power, to augment it. John C. Calhoun long-time power time long In 1828 we raised the duties, on an average, to nearly fifty per cent, when the debt was on the eve of being discharged, and thereby flooded the country with a revenue, when discharged, which could not be absorbed by the most lavish expenditures. John C. Calhoun being debt average country By nature, every individual has the right to govern himself; and governments, whether founded on majorities or minorities, must derive their right from the assent, expressed or implied, of the governed,, and be subject to such limitations as they may impose. John C. Calhoun right individual nature may What is it but a cunningly devised scheme to take from one State and to give to another - to replenish the treasury of some of the States from the pockets of the people of the others; in reality, to make them support the governments and pay the debts of other States as well as their own? John C. Calhoun own support reality people I will not undertake to offer an opinion on the capacity of Hindustan to produce cotton. The region is large, and the soil and climate various, the population great and wages low; but I must be permitted to doubt the success of the experiment of driving us out of the market, though backed and patronized by English capital and energy. John C. Calhoun great driving opinion success So long as the Oregon question is left open, Mexico will calculate the chances of a rupture between us and Great Britain, in the event of which she would be prepared to make common cause against us. But when an end is put to any such hope, she will speedily settle her difference with us. John C. Calhoun end great hope long War may make us great, but let it never be forgotten that peace only can make us both great and free. John C. Calhoun never great war peace The government of the absolute majority is but the government of the strongest interests; and when not effectively checked, is the most tyrannical and oppressive that can be devised... [To read the Constitution is to realize that] no free system was ever farther removed from the principle that the absolute majority, without check or limitation, ought to govern. John C. Calhoun
