USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -At the end of his senatorial career, Calhoun opposed the Compromise of 1850 because of its proposed limits on slavery during the westward expansion of the nation. Calhoun was clearly a dying man as he was assisted to his desk on the Senate floor a few minutes past noon on March 4, 1850.

Detailed explanation-2: -Clay’s proposal was opposed by President Zachary Taylor, anti-slavery Whigs like William Seward, and pro-slavery Democrats like John C. Calhoun, and congressional debate over the territories continued.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Compromise of 1850 was the mastermind of Whig senator Henry Clay and Democratic senator Stephan Douglas.

Detailed explanation-4: -Calhoun did not vote for or against the Missouri Compromise. When that compromise was reached in 1820, Calhoun was not a member of Congress, but was serving as Secretary of War under President James Monroe. He was also a nationalist in 1820, advocating a strong federal government.

Detailed explanation-5: -The Compromise of 1850 provoked one of the Senate’s most famous debates. In his last speech to the Senate, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina protested the admission of California as a free state, claiming that the more powerful North was unfairly excluding the South from new territories and pushing the South to secede.