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Editorial Review Book Description
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." He argues that Calhoun had a coherent, systematic view of human nature and society and made a lasting contribution to the theory of constitutionalism and democracy."Definitive."--Clyde Wilson, Editor, The Papers of John C. Calhoun "A rich and well-argued book."—American Political Science Review "Perhaps even the best single study of Calhoun's political thought."--Civil War History ... Read more Customer Reviews (3) 
Calhoun, Concurrent Majority and the Search for Popular Rule
~Calhoun and Popular Rule: The Political Theory of the Disquisition and Discourse~ outlines the political theory of the esteemed southern statesmen John Caldwell Calhoun who is often lauded as the last American Founding Father. H. Lee. Cheek, Jr., the author, presents an astute exposition of Calhoun's political thought. Cheek does so by coupling objectivity, cogent reasoning with an enthusiastic appreciation for the contributions of Calhoun to political science. He presents Calhoun as a versatile, bold, and original thinker, but not aloof from the American political tradition wrought out in the formative years of the Republic. Calhoun is a complex figure in his own right, though somewhat influenced by the liberal and Enlightenment tradition, he stil rejected the liberal philosophy of natural rights and the Enlightenment's positive view of human nature. Cheek explicates Calhoun's concurrent majority with remarkable clarity and insight. Calhoun's statesmanship is neglected these days, and shoddy partisan scholarship glibly dismisses him as a firebrand voice for sectional interests. Calhoun attached a fervent willingness to defend the American republic, to stave off dissolution of the federal regime, and eschew consolidation as a means of strengthening the republic.
This book is a well thought-out exposition of Calhoun's political theory. Even some of Calhoun's thorough biographers such as John Nevin among others have obfuscated Calhoun's political theory at times, and muddied the waters by incorrectly elaborating upon it or simply explaining it in reductionist terms. As result of their neglect at more careful study, Calhoun's contribution to political science is oft neglected and apt to be misunderstood. Cheek's effort is a poignant, well-written, and cogent elucidation on the Disquisition, the Discourse, and the principle of the concurrent majority. He clears up many matters, and soundly expounds Calhoun's political thought, chiefly that of the Disquisition and Discourse.
Calhoun was a member of that Democrat Party, yet he was opposed to the nascent demagoguery of Andrew Jackson and he rightly recognized the "limitations of the emerging plebiscitarian spirit within American democracy."He insisted only delineating himself as a "Republican" throughout his career. Calhoun was a most sober democrat, precisely because he recognized the limitations of democracy. For Calhoun, democracy works best by being dispersed (or localized) and is most tyrannical when it is centralized. Calhoun was focused on the search for a proper understanding of popular rule.
The first chapter, `Calhoun and the American Political Tradition,' sketches a background of the American political tradition from its inception. Cheek presents Calhoun as a heir and expositor of the South Atlantic republican worldview. This view, succinctly stated, was shaded by "moral and philosophical overtones," it affirmed the principle of subsidiarity, it saw the necessity of virtue amongst the citizenry of the States (inculcated by religion and fear of God), and it recognized the need to protect a "decentralized, group-oriented society." Following in the footsteps of his father Patrick Calhoun (who like Patrick Henry) was skeptical of the work wrought out in the 1787 Convention, John in turn was not doctrinaire to the dogmas espoused by Madison and Hamilton in the Federalist. Calhoun nonetheless admired the federal polity, but sought to solidify popular rule through concurrent majorities. "Calhoun's political theory should be understood as a reflective journey," notes Cheek, "towards recovering genuine popular rule amidst the national crises that occurred during his career as a statesmen and political philosopher."
The second chapter, `Calhoun's Early Republicanism,' elaborates upon his mode of political reflection and theIn this chapter, Cheek weaves together history interspersed with Calhoun's reflections, political views, and defense of the principles of 1798 in the interposition statements in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. In précis, Cheek paints a background to Calhoun's mode of political thought through the lens of the "South Atlantic republican experience." Calhoun's embrace of interposition as a counterweight to federal usurpation encapsulated and shaped Calhoun's political thought. Calhoun like many other statesmen from Robert Hayne to Thomas Jefferson found the notion that federal government would be the exclusive interpreter of whether it was operating within the scope of its powers to be anathema. Giving the States, no recourse against federal usurpation was the very embodiment of tyranny. Calhoun's republicanism compelled him to affirm dual sovereignty, and more resoundingly affirm the reserved rights of the states which he perceived were being encroached upon in his time. Calhoun saw the Constitution as a compact between the States and the general Government. Embracing the idea of corporate liberty, Calhoun recognized that not only the institutions within the general government, but also the States acted as a check against usurpations by the central authority.
The third and fourth chapters, `The Political Theory of the Disquisition' and `The Political Theory of the Discourse' are trenchant analyses of Calhoun's Disquisition and Discourse respectively. Calhoun rejects natural rights, and scoffs at the self-evident egalitarian proposition in the Declaration, and embraced the doctrine of original sin in shaping his political thought. Yet Calhoun recognized authority existed to preserve liberty and he made a careful effort at structuring the interrelationship between the two in his writings. He was an organic political thinker weaving together communal, societal and government interests in his thought. Because of the sinful impulse of man, government was needed, and because of that same sinful impulse, government was to be restrained. "Intended to protect and preserve society," government has "a strong tendency to disorder and abuse of its power, as all experiences and almost every page of history will testify," argued Calhoun. Mere adherence to popular rule did not suffice to restrain government, and popular rule could give a locus of legitimacy to the most tyrannical oppression. Calhoun recognized this and affirmed his belief in constitutionalism. Calhoun takes issue with Madison and his notions of an "extended republic" acting to alleviate the intensity of factional strife merely because of the geographic scope of the nation. The idea that the extended republic would stifle majoritarian tyranny was absurd on its face. For Calhoun this was tripe and wishful thinking to think that friction amongst groups would be alleviated merely by enlarging the body politic. "Calhoun confronted a political situation in which the twin attributes of expansion and independence from group interests had failed in practice," notes Cheek. "If extending the regime had proved fruitless at reducing conflict and preventing the coalescing of forces, Calhoun envisioned the solution for America as a return to the original instrumentation of diffused authority." Calhoun recognized that without a continuous conscious effort at affirming a vision of federalism (with states' rights and the concurrent majority as its fulcrum) would in the end prove futile in staving off factional friction, and the undesirable road of either consolidation or disunion.
The final chapter, `Restoring the Concurrent Republic,' is an astute capsule of Calhoun's political theory and his labors to recover the concurrent majority within the American political tradition. Calhoun's contributions have been ignored, and reductionists who demean his reform efforts as nothing more than a proposal allowing for a dual presidency. The concurrent majority allows for genuine popular rule within a constitutional framework. The search for the concurrent majority in popular rule represents an endeavor of restoration and preservation since it embraces mutual negatives and institutional checks and balances while guarding against the tyranny of King Numbers or majoritarian tyranny. "Instead of yearning to dicatate all decision making by controlling government," notes Cheek, "the concurrent majority recognizes and incorporates the natural divisions of authority into a coherent whole through a mode of deliberation premised upon compromise. With the numerical majority (and more absolutist forms governing), the only path to power is found in the domination of the government... [T]he concurrent majority relies upon compromise among the constitutive parts of the republic to ameliorate tension and promote cooperation." The concurrent majority protects the minority interests, thwarts the all-or-nothing game at the national level and stifles coalescing of factions to the detriment of another faction. The concurrent majority represents a constraint against majoritarian tyranny, and acts to produce a peaceful consensus making a polity more workable with less friction amongst competiting interests. Cheek presents Calhoun's affirmation of "a South Atlantic republican inheritance" in a positive light, as well as his efforts to "return to the original diffusion of political authority and authentic popular rule."
With much bravado and clarity, H. Lee Cheek, Jr. has made a most remarkable contribution to political science; he very soundly elucidates Calhoun's political theory with an incisive analysis and insight.
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Quotations from the late Senator John C. Calhoun:
"To talk of liberty, without a Constitution, or, which is the same thing, an organic or fundamental system of legislation, by which the will of the Government may be effectually coerced or restrained, is to utter ideas without meaning; and to suppose an ultimate power, on the part of Government, to interpret the Constitution as it pleases, and to resort to force, to execute its interpretation, against the authority which created the Constitution itself, is to be guilty of the greatest political absurdity that can be imagined."
"[I]n governments of the concurrent majority... mere numbers have not the absolute control; and the wealthy and intelligent being identified in interest with the poor and ignorant of their respective portions or interests of the community, become their leaders and protectors. And hence, as the latter would have neither hope nor inducement to rally the former in order to obtain the control, the right of suffrage, under such a government, may be safely enlarged to the extent stated without incurring the hazard to which enlargement would expose governments of the numerical majority."
"But, as there can be no constitution without the negative power, and no negative power without the concurrent majority - it follows, necessarily, that where the numerical majority has the sole control of the government, there can be no constitution; as constitution implies limitation or restriction - and, of course, is inconsistent with the idea of sole or exclusive power. And hence, the numerical, unmixed with the concurrent majority, necessarily forms, in all cases, absolute government."
"On the contrary, the government of the concurrent majority, where the organism is perfect, excludes the possibility of oppression, by giving to each interest, or portion, or order - where there are established classes - the means of protecting itself, by its negative, against all measures calculated to advance the peculiar interests of others at its expense. Its effect, then, is, to cause the different interests, portions, or orders - as the case lay be - to desist from attempting to adopt any measure calculated to promote the prosperity of one, or more, by sacrificing that of others; and thus to force them to unite in such measures only as would promote the prosperity of all, as the only means to prevent the suspension of the action of the government - and, thereby, to avoid anarchy, the greatest of all evils. It is by means of such authorized and effectual resistance, that oppression is prevented, and the necessity of resorting to force superseded, in governments of the concurrent majority - and, hence, compromise, instead of force, becomes their conservative principle."
"The concurrent majority, on the other hand, tends to unite the most opposite and conflicting interests, and to blend the whole in one common attachment to the country. By giving to each interest, or portion, the power of self-protection, all strife and struggle between them for ascendency, is prevented; and, thereby, not only every feeling calculated to weaken the attachment to the whole is suppressed, but the individual and the social feelings are made to unite in one common devotion to country. Each sees and feels that it can best promote its own prosperity by conciliating the goodwill, and promoting the prosperity of the others. And hence, there will be diffused throughout the whole community kind feelings between its different portions; and, instead of antipathy, a rivalry amongst them to promote the interests of each other... Under the combined influence of these causes, the interests of each would be merged in the common interests of the whole; and thus, the community would become a unit, by becoming the common centre of attachment of all its parts. And hence, instead of faction, strife, and struggle for party ascendency, there would be patriotism, nationality, harmony, and a struggle only for supremacy in promoting the common good of the whole."
"The concurrent majority, then, is better suited to enlarge and secure the bounds of liberty, because it is better suited to prevent government from passing beyond its proper limits, and to restrict it to its primary end - the protection of the community."
Who is this Man, John C. Calhoun?
There is no doubt that Dr. Lee Cheek is a brilliant author whose command of the English language is indeed impressive as displayed throughout this discourse. As a new student to understanding the political thought motivating early Americana, this book serves as a highly evolved analytical treatise to the Calhounian theories between the role of State v. 'general' government, majoritarianism, constitutionality, popular rule of society and much more. Many of Calhoun's cognitive exploits are excerpted from his original Papers and his two major works, i.e., the Disquisition and the Discourse. Although this work clearly stipulates many views of substantive Calhoun detractors, the author tends to discount the majority of their missives by stating that those detractors have often misunderstood Calhoun's more contemplative meanings on many issues. It would seem that given the numerous footnotes referencing other authors on Calhoun throughout this work, there is much more to the Man than is portrayed in this volume; certainly, it must be entertained that those discussions may fall well outside the scope of this volume. Calhoun's experiences and writings have given rise to a great deal of debate about the Man and his objectives. Even today, 152 years after his death, he remains an enigma of political discourse. To more fully appreciate this work by Dr. Cheek, it would behoove a student interested in pursuing a more indepth look into Calhounian thought to digest the unabridged texts of his Disquisition and his Discourse, and perhaps, many of his Papers.
SIMPLY EXCELLENT
Dr. Lee Cheek is a fabulous author, he takes advantage of every sentence.Every thought is loaded with political genius from a true student of politics.Dr. Cheek has a love and energy for politics that is pure and refreshing.He brings a new perspective to a often misunderstood historical politician.Cheek brings Calhoun back to life and shows that his thoughts and political theories are still relevent in the modern America.It is fabulous and I would highly recommend it for anyone who wants a good read in American Political Thought.
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