LAD #12

John C. Calhoun depicts the union's disunion in one word- slavery. Through this speech, Calhoun was able to break down our country to its core. In the beginning of this speech, he illustrated that although he may not agree with everyone in the union, his overall goal is that the union remains one. Basically he started off the speech saying that he did not want the union to dissolve. However, he does not blame the slavery problems on the South were slavery has the greatest extents of effects, instead he looks to the North and the West for a source of confliction. Through claiming these were actaully the main sources of problems, he himself is illustrating the immense sectionalism that is taking place at this time. After this he begins to illustrate one of his most important concerns. This is that the south is actually losing power. He fears that since migration to the West is so strong, the South no longer is holding the place that it once held within the union. Calhoun overall decides that the best way to raise affluence for the south would be to increase states rights and then increase slavery in the western territories. Throughout this entire speech he was advocating for southern rights.