John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), the South Carolinian who served as a
congressman, a senator, and the seventh vice president of the
United States, is best known for his role in southern resistance to
abolition and his doctrine of state nullification. But he was also
an accomplished political thinker, articulating the theory of the
""concurrent majority."" This theory, John G. Grove contends, is a
rare example of American political thought resting on classical
assumptions about human nature and political life. By tracing
Calhoun's ideas over the course of his political career, Grove
unravels the relationship between the theory of the concurrent
majority and civic harmony, constitutional reform, and American
slavery. In doing so, Grove distinguishes Calhoun's political
philosophy from his practical, political commitment to states'
rights and slavery, and identifies his ideas as a genuinely
classical form of republicanism that focuses on the political
nature of mankind, public virtue, and civic harmony. Man was a
social creature, Calhoun argued, and the role of government was to
maximize society's ability to thrive. The requirements of social
harmony, not abstract individual rights, were therefore the
foundation of political order. Hence the concurrent majority
permitted the unique elements in any given society to pursue their
interests as long as these did not damage the whole society; it
forced rulers to act in the interest of the whole. John C.
Calhoun's Theory of Republicanism offers a close analysis of the
historical development of this idea from a basic, inherited
republican ideology into a well-defined political theory. In the
process, this book demonstrates that Calhoun's infamous defense of
American slavery, while unwavering, was intellectually shallow and,
in some ways, contradicted his highly developed political theory.
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