Leave Calhoun Alone
Perhaps no American thinker has suffered more in recent days than John C. Calhoun, whose work and personage are often dismissed by his critics for a single phrase attributed to him, diminishing the careful and… »
Rewriting the History of “Calhoun University.”
On June 13, 2020, Clemson University president Jim Clements proclaimed, “this was an important day for Clemson-a historic day for Clemson.” Nothing could be further from the truth. It was but another victory for historical… »
Those Cowardly Tigers
In a gosh attempt at virtue signaling, the Clemson University Board of Trustees has unanimously voted to remove John C. Calhoun’s name from the school’s Honors College. This decision came after former Tiger football stars… »
No Worse Enemy. No Better Friend
A review of In Defense of Andrew Jackson (Regnery History, 2018) by Bradley J. Birzer I was recently in Nashville, Tennessee, with family, and took the opportunity to visit Andrew Jackson’s home-turned-museum, “The Hermitage.” I… »
Calhoun and Constitutionalism
Union and liberty are not two terms most people associate with John C. Calhoun, a figure often linked exclusively with secession and slavery. But a reading of Liberty Fund’s 1992 Union and Liberty, a single-volume… »
Federalists Still Attack Calhoun
John C. Calhoun was the last eloquent political philosopher to stand against the ideology and intentions of the Federalists. He was the last to stand firmly in the halls of the Senate and articulate exactly… »
A Southerner’s Movie Guide, Part III
5. Spielberg’s Amistad (1997) If Amistad is not yet a household word like ET or Jurassic Park, it soon will be with the power of Steven Spielberg behind it. (When I started this review awhile… »
NeoCon Jacobins
A recent National Review column in the silly Northern War over 1619 contained this unfortunate paragraph: “In fact, Adams suggested, if there ever were a civil war, the president would have the power to abolish… »
False Idols? Looking at America’s Founders with a Clear Eye
Increasingly, America’s past is becoming a lightning rod for contemporary ideological struggles. Colleges, highways and Democratic Party fundraising dinners are being renamed, monuments destroyed or desecrated, and a general suspicion seems to be growing of… »
Real Conservatism
A review of The Southern Tradition: The Achievements and Limitations of Southern Conservatism (Harvard, 1994) by Eugene Genovese The notion of a Southern political tradition can be understood as conservative, complete, and consistent with its… »
