John Caldwell Calhoun

Born: March 18, 1782- McCormick County, S.C. Died: March 31, 1850 -Washington D.C. (aged 68) Served as Vice President for John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. He was also Secretary of State, Secretary of War (now Defense), Senator and Congressman. He is known as the Father of Session and the Great Nullifier. He began his political career as a nationalist modernizer, and proponent of a strong national government and protective tarrifs. After 1830, his views shifteed and he became a greater proponent of states' rights, limited government, nullification and free trade. He is known for his defense of slavery as a "positive good" rather than a "necessary evi." He helped build the arguments that led the South out of the Union. He was exhumed at the end of the Civil War out of fear his body would be destroyed by Union troops and hidden on the east side of the present church. His body was returned at the end of Reconstruction. Due to church protocol, he is buried across the street from his wife.