John C. CalhounJohn C. Calhoun, (1782-1850) American statesman

John C. Calhoun Quote

“To maintain the ascendancy of the Constitution over the lawmaking majority is the great and essential point on which the success of the [American] system must depend; unless that ascendancy can be preserved, the necessary consequence must be that the laws will supersede the Constitution; and, finally, the will of the Executive, by influence of its patronage, will supersede the laws ...”

John C. CalhounJohn C. Calhoun
~ John C. Calhoun


Ratings and Comments


E Archer, NYC

There is no better example of this than the present day.

Anonymous, Reston, VA US

Down with King George to restore the foundations of our very existance as a country.

Mike, Norwalk

aahhh, King George, the absolute prophetic fulfilment of the quote; the unconstitutional socialist / fascist judiciaries and legislatures having done their part.

Mike, Mount Holly, NC

Reston, if you think George Bush is the root of all our problems, you're not paying attention, and you need to go to the back of the class. The government we have now is the result of a long chain of Constitutional abuses with it's root in the mid 1800's with the radical Republican party of Lincoln's day.

Me Again
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Me Again    11/3/06

Well,I guess that brings us up to the present.

Joe, Rochester, MI

If you are not mad as hell ... you aren't paying attention!

David L Rosenthal

The government we have now is the result of a long chain of abuses going back several millenia with its root in the perversity of human hearts and minds.

A. Jurgensen, Stuart, FL

David L. Rosenthal has it exactly right. "The government we have now is the result of a long chain of abuses going back several millenia with its root in the perversity of human hearts and minds." Me: The government we have now is also the result of RedState America at last acqiesing to H.L. Mencken's prescient quotation that: "as Democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts' desire at last when the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

Vexari, Indian Shores

Ron Paul is what this country needs to save our constitution..

cal, lewisville, tx

The supreme court declared the "civil rights" laws passed after the civil war as unconstitutional in 1874. Now it uses the civil rights laws of the 60's to overturn the constitution!

Mike, Norwalk

My comment above was then; the anointed Obamunist is now, The anointed Obamunist is even a greater tyrannical despot than king George ever hoped to be.

jim k, austin

When it all started, I'm not sure. But it certainly went into high gear with Lincolns war to create an all powerful , centralized government in Washington, DC. It continues today under Obama, Nancy, Harry, Barney, and the rest of the usual suspects. Our best hope is 2010 when we have a chance to throw some of the bums out.

Mike, Norwalk

Thus the fascist theocracy, while screaming 'it is the sacred democracy' has become a tyranny of anti-law, anti-justice, anti-Constitution, anti-freedom, anti-truth, etc.

Waffler, Smith

This guy was from, South Carolina enough said.

Anon
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Anon    5/27/09

Best hopes to solve the problem with the next election is exactly what our new political elite working for the international elite want and expect Americans to believe. Then the beat of the war drum will be for the next election. The "waiting" time is filled with more encroachments so "waiting" for an election will change nothing. Warburg said world government by consent or conquest. Waiting for a new election is giving consent. I don't say give up on the election but to do nothing but wait and hope in the meantime is giving consent with your silence. Every process of government that used to work in favor of the individual and his freedom is now used against him. You would have to elect God into office because he's the only single individual that would have the power to effectively do anything on his own. Either that or the next president would at least need the same power of God to single-handedly do anything. But wait, short of miracle power our President has the power of God to call forth through the Patriot Act. I would think the moral breakdown of American society and the resulting breakdown of their form of government might be considered a national emergency so why doesn't our President declare it and save our constitutional self governing form of government? Isn't that what most do today? Wait for the government to solve the problems, and as they can't (that would be to give up power), we blindly have faith that life will go on and at some stage our government will get it right so in the mean time we wait and try to hang on to the lifestyle accustomed to and pray the next election will do the trick. All this when the truth is that government IS the problem because it causes problems to justify its existence as THE problem solver. We have needy that our people feel need help thus social programs. Where did the needy come from? Open borders reveals a big part of that answer. Failure of government to do much about the massive influx justifies calling for the social programs better ensuring their job security. Crime up for the same reason, justification for more laws. The failure of the debt money system is adding to the lists of the needy and people cry out for government to do something and they are. Working harder than ever to fit you into their version of perfect world government while you think they're trying to fix things. People scoff at the idea of brainwashing and subliminal this and subliminal that and claim free thinker status and "intelligently" come up with what needs to be done to make this social program work better, reform this and adjust that, terms of office, reform the tax system and the list of solutions goes infinitely on. They still spout the over all "party" line and don't address the root problem. Until people see the problem of total control as the reality coming and RE-FORM themselves first and understand the reality that the "reality" that's been structured around them has been done solely for the purpose of control. Your anxieties and fears are played on by doing stuff (open borders and drug wars) to get the thoughtless emotional to hand over more power and this is the real control and the strongest grip on the minds of the people. They "feel" there is NO OTHER WAY but to do what government tells them they MUST do to make things better again. By sheer volume of distraction, illusion, propaganda and drama, people are kept in a state where all thoughts and actions are so directed to desperately keeping the control system running our clear thought processes are shut out and as the ignorance increases and desperate (there is no other choice) faith and reliance on our leaders as the ONLY way out, they willingly give their consent to be totally controlled and the first truth of Warburg's quote unveils itself. Consent, people manipulated into freely, out of fear, charging into the arms of their supposed savior big brother. Conquest can take many forms from usurped power to war waged with usurped power. The only way out of the situation we're in today is a reformation in the spirit of people and the freeing up of our thought processes constrained by the reality that has been built around us by men. That's when discovery of the solutions to solve our societal problems can be found in natural law constructions of order which when mimicked by man naturally give us a form of society that is compatible with both nature and man. This is the peaceful harmony in the world we are searching for and it is freedom of the individual that creates it. This is the TRUE reality kept hidden so that man's structured control system will stay in power over the minds of men. Unless people start thinking what they see is real isn't real but an idea of some men to control others nothing will change. Change is a constant fixture of time and man will wake up just by the fact that as control increases freedom disappears and eventually the truth of what happened to freedom becomes probable, possible and then certain fact. Facing that certain fact first is where reformation of the individual begins naturally. Help others see the TRUE reality of things and sit back and watch the show nature puts on when people act and live naturally and someone else doesn't want them to. Sure the violence will come with the chaos associated with it but this is a necessary process of nature to tear down the old and crumbling and replace it with the new. Just like men are trying to replace our crumbling government with world government. But since world government is an extension of the false reality it can only crumble too and nature will be there to reclaim its power over the earth and all that's on it. Sorry for the length but it must be said.

Waffler, Smith

Defending the Constitution which counted slave/property as worhty of congressional representation even though slave/property had no voice or vote was what gave the South a strangle hold on the USA for 73 years. Norhtern property of no kind received a similar recognition for congressional representation. By importing or birthing more slaves Sothern congressional power and strangle hold increased. Thus it could be said in some ways at least the Constitution was an abhorrent thing and defending this thing and at least that part about slave/property representation was what Calhoun was all about. There was no way to resolve this Constitutional error except War.

Cogitator
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Cogitator    5/28/09

He must have had a crystal ball. It has happened.

Gwennie, Playa del Rey

Are any of you aware that John Calhoun was one of the central apologists for the right to secession?

Don Lee, RENO
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Don Lee, RENO Gwennie, Playa del Rey 3/10/20

Are you aware that Yankee shippers in Boston were the major slave traders and never gave a refund for what they did to those they duped into buying slaves. Calhoun saw the evil, why can't you?

J Carlton, Calgary

Calhoun was an obviously intelligent and prescient man. We have now descended into a near police state and that with an imposter at the helm. Our government is not ours...it's the property and tool of the central bankers, which makes voting and "so called" democracy a sick joke.

jim k, Austin, Tx

Gwennie, Thomas Jefferson did not favor secession but said that states had the right to seceed. Too bad they weren't allowed to seceed as it cost the lives of 650,000 Americans.

J. Humphreville, Lancaster, Pa.

This quote from Calhoun clearly defines the damage we have fostered in our government an predicts the consequence.

Fredrick William Sillik, Anytown

Even though democracy allows the freedom of all to express, it would be most effective for progress and survival itself to prioritize mentally healthy advise and expression.

Mike, Norwalk
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Mike, Norwalk Fredrick William Sillik, Anytown 8/5/24

Sillik, "Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for supper. Freedom is a well armed lamb contesting the vote." (attributed to Benjamin Franklin) A democracy is NOT a government of law but rather, a carnal god aristocracy that interprets the majority's lust over the minority (freedom by definition, can not be expressed in a democracy)

Please give me the address of your referenced "progress" and "survival" so that I may subpoena them or at least, question their substance so as to identify your interpretation of what mentally healthy is.

Fredrick William Sillik, Anytown
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Fredrick William Sillik, Anytown Mike, Norwalk 8/8/24

Mike, Norwalk, Democracy is the belief that correct expression will sooner or later lead us to freedom, and that expression will be the nonviolent words of wisdom. 

Progress and Survival reference: Google.com

: As far as Mentally Healthy, the favorable dimension of life over death. The life direction is the Mentally Healthy route. 

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