JOHN C. CALHOUN, THE CHAMPION OF NULLIFICATION
John C. Calhoun, 1782
155. The Champion of the War of 1812. John C. Calhoun was born in the same year as Webster (1782) in South Carolina. His parents were Scotch-Irish. His father, a Revolutionary patriot, died soon after John was born. John spent his early years roaming in the fields and woods. He learned more there than from books, and he learned to think before the thoughts of other people filled his memory.
Entered Yale College as a junior
At eighteen he began to prepare for college, under the care of his brother-in-law, a Presbyterian minister. In two years he entered Yale College. When in college he studied hard, and was graduated with high honors.
A lawyer
Calhoun studied law diligently for three years, a year and a half of the time in his native state, and a year and a half in Connecticut. He began to practice law in South Carolina, but did not have great success. Perhaps it was because the law was too dry for him, or perhaps because he was soon elected to the legislature of his state.
JOHN C. CALHOUN