The conflict between power and liberty in a free government was the passionate concern of this most articulate, and often prophetic, orator and writer.

Although John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) remains one of the major figures in American political thought, many of his critics have tried to discredit him as merely a Southern partisan whose ideas were obsolete even during his lifetime. In Calhoun and Popular Rule, H. Lee Cheek, Jr., attempts to correct such misconceptions by presenting Calhoun as an original political thinker who devoted his life to the recovery of a "proper mode of popular rule." As the first combined evaluation of Calhoun's most important treatises, The Disquisition and The Discourse, this work merges Calhoun's theoretical position with his endeavors to restore the need for popular rule. It also compares Calhoun's ideas with those of other great political thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison--while explaining what is truly unique about Calhoun's political thought.

John Caldwell Calhoun (1782-1850) was America's leading political theorist of his day who served as the seventh elected Vice President of the United States (1825-1832), the sixteenth United States Secretary of State (1844-1845), the tenth United States Secretary of War (1817-1825), as a senator from South Carolina (1845-1850), as a Member of the House of Representatives from South Carolina's 6th district (1811-1817), and as a Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Abbeville District (1808-1809). He was the foremost promoter of states' rights, limited government, nullification (the right o states to overrule federal laws) and free trade. He argued that slavery was a "positive good" in that it uplifted and protected the black population. He was also an ardent proponent of minority rights, and by this he meant the white population in the Southern States. Calhoun died eleven years before the start of the American Civil War, but he was an inspiration to the secessionists of 1860-61 and was featured on an (unissued) Confederate States of America (CSA) postage stamp and on a CSA $100 bill. A Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States contains Calhoun's analysis of, and assertion that the US Constitution was designed to prevent vested interests from taking control of government and forcing their views and opinions on all others at their own expense. His premise was that any properly organized society has to work in recognition of differences in human nature, and not against them. This former view, he maintained, was the intent and purpose of the original framers of the Constitution. Calhoun's thoughts remain an original contribution to the history of political theory. His assertion of pluralism in political representation has influenced diverse critics of society, including liberal supporters of civil rights and conservative defenders of special social and economic interests.