John Caldwell Calhoun
U. S. House of Representatives, South Carolina, 1811-1817
U. S. Secretary of War, 1817-1825
U. S. Vice President, 1825-1832
U. S. Senator, South Carolina, 1832-1843
U. S. Secretary of State, 1844-1845
U. S. Senator, South Carolina, 1845-1850
Born: March 18, 1782, near Calhoun Mills, Abbeville District (now Mount Carmel, McCormick County), South Carolina.
Died: March 31, 1850, Washington, D. C.
- Attended the common schools and Willington Academy.
- Yale College, 1804, graduate
- Litchfield (Conn.) Law School, 1806, graduate.
- Admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1807, and commenced practice in Abbeville, South Carolina.
- Also engaged in agricultural pursuits.
- Member of the South Carolina State House of Representatives, 1808-1809.
- Elected from South Carolina as a War Democrat to the Twelfth and to the three succeeding U. S. Congresses, serving from March 4, 1811 - November 3, 1817, when he resigned.
- Appointed U. S. Secretary of War, serving from December 10, 1817 - March 3, 1825.
- Elected Vice President of the United States, 1824.
- Re-elected, 1828, on the Jackson ticket and served from March 4, 1825 - December 28, 1832, when he resigned, having been elected to the U. S. Senate on December 12, 1832, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Robert Y. Hayne.
- Re-elected, 1834 and 1840, serving from December 29, 1832, until his resignation, effective March 3, 1843.
- Appointed U. S. Secretary of State March 6, 1844, entered upon his duties April 1, 1844, serving until March 6, 1845.
- Declined the offer of the English mission tendered by U. S. Presidents Polk and Adams.
- Again elected to the U. S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Daniel E. Huger.
- Re-elected in 1846, serving from November 26, 1845, until his death in 1850.
Buried: St. Philip's Churchyard, Charleston, South Carolina.
(Source: U.S. Congress. House. Biographical Directory Of The American Congress 1774-1949, 85th Cong., 2nd sess., H. Doc. 607 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950), pp. 759-2057.)