LAD #13: John Calhoun's Speech

John Calhoun's main purpose in his speech was to explain how Clay's Compromise of 1850 was dividing the United States. He addresses the conflict in preserving the unification of the States. He also states that a major reason for the break in unification was the Southern States as they said that in order to remain their honor, they could not remain a part of the United States. This had resulted from various conflicts with slavery as well as economic issues and other problems in regards to western settlers. Additionally, there were conflicts dealing with the unequal distribution of land as well as the "supposed supremacy" of the Northern States which all led to the anger rising from within the South. Calhoun stated his disapproval of Clay's Compromise since he believed it would not prevent war. Calhoun was against the spread of slavery in America becauses of this compromise. Calhoun also went on to say that the sole way to solve these conflicts would be to give the South what they wanted, however only the North would be able to do this. He stated that without the North making these appeasments, then the Union would break as the South would secede from the United States of America.