Synopsis
C. Gordon Post's edition of Calhoun's political writings is enhanced in this reissue by Shannon Stimson's new Foreword, examining changing perspectives on Calhoun, and a new Bibliography. Now, as in his own time, Calhoun's voice resonates to fundamental concerns of our democratic polity: the nature of man, the obligations of government, and - most keenly - how best to safeguard the interest of a minority against the will of democratic majorities. His doctrine of concurrent majority and a minority veto - although employed to defend the South's commitment to slavery in pre-bellum nineteenth-century America - strikes at enduring questions of how a diverse, and sometimes divided, society can maintain its integrity while honoring the interests of all its citizens.