The Calhoun Monument

There is little I can add to the prior and excellent review of Unilocaler Dan R., one of the best I’ve ever read. As for the monument itself, it’s one of the most awesome of structures, located in a beautiful open park along Meeting and Calhoun Streets. Unfortunately to my way of thinking, dedicated to a person, John Caldwell Calhoun, a political theorist possessed of less than desirable motives and political theories. He held himself out as a staunch supporter of «minority rights,» but be careful on that because his concepts of minority rights aren’t those that we think of as being minority rights today. His concept was that Southern States and slaveholders, being minorities, had the minority right to own, keep and hold slaves, along with the right to nullify any federal law that that might infringe upon those rights.
Of recent days this monument has been repeatedly vandalized and there have been mounting protests to have it torn down because of dark past and history of slavery it represents. Indeed it wouldn’t be the first time, as the original monument was torn down by the very people who built it. All I can say on that point is that as a monument it’s most impressive though what it represent is not. Regardless of one thoughts on those matters, if you’re in the area, this huge four story tall towering monument is worth a look and see.
As monuments go, it’s easily a Four Star one, but because of the person it’s dedicated to and what it actually represents, the darkest side of American history, Eek!, I can only go one.

South Carolina’s John C. Calhoun accomplished something very rare in American politics. He was just one of two individuals that served as Vice President under two different Presidents (John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson). Who was the other you ask? How about George Clinton who served under both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
Calhoun was an epic figure in American history, he served in the US House of Representatives, as a Senator, a Vice President, Secretary of War and Secretary of State.
He started his career as a supporter of a strong central government, but over the years he became a supporter of states’ rights and «nullification» — meaning that states could nullify Federal laws they felt were unconstitutional.
A spectacular monument honoring Calhoun stands nearly 4 stories tall in Marion Square, where Meeting Street and Calhoun Street cross. It has a granite base, an enormous granite column and a bronze statue of Calhoun.
There are sculpted panels around the base showing scenes of Calhoun at a negotiation table and giving a speech.
An inscription on the monument’s base reads:
1782 1850
Truth Justice and the Constitution
A plaque on the back reads:
This monument was erected by the women of South Carolina in 1896 to John Caldwell Calhoun in commemoration of his eminent statesmanship during the many years of his public life. It replaces one formerly on the same spot which proved unsatisfactory. The funds for its construction were raised soon after his death in 1850 by the Ladies Calhoun Monument Association. Its treasurer Mrs. M. A. Snowden having charge of all its assets secured them about her person and thus saved them during the memorable night of the destruction of Columbia South Carolina by Sherman on the 17 February 1865.