uth or the west of the Mississippi River. When he retired he wrote books about the defense of the South and about himself. John Coldwell Calhoun John Calhoun was the vice-president of the United States and worked for Southern rights. He also served in the state legislature and Congress. In Congress he was a war hawk. James Monroe appointed Calhoun as his Secretary of War in 1817. In 1828 he wrote the "South Carolina Exposition and Protest" which stated that the state should have the power to nullify federal laws. In 1828 Calhoun was reelected vice-president when Andrew Jackson was president. When Jackson didn't like South Carolina's efforts to nullify the tariff, he resigned from vice-president. Calhoun then served in the Senate and was a good spokesman for slavery and Southern rights. For the last years of his life he defended the right of slavery to go into federal territories. He died on March 31, 1850. Henry Clay Henry Clay was a key figure in U.S. politics in the early 19th century. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1811. Clay was the leader of the "War Hawks" in Congress who wanted to go to war against Great Britain. In 1815 he made a program that would build roads linking the East and the West. Clay ran for president in 1824, but when no candidate won a majority, Clay supported John Adams. When Adam's won, Clay was named Secretary of State. In the 1840's he help to guide a new tariff law and a national bank to Congress. Clay helped persuade congress to accept the Compromise of 1850, which saved the Union for a decade. Andrew Johnson Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina on Dec. 29, 1808 and when his family moved to Tennessee he opened a tailor shop in Greeneville. Before Johnson became vice-president he was an alderman, mayor, state representative, senator, congressman, and a governor. When the Union occupied part of Tennessee in 1862, Lincoln chose Johnson ...
