John C. Calhoun

John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) was the vice president of the United States from 1825-32 under presidents John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, as well as Secretary of State, Secretary of War, a U.S. congressman, and a South Carolina state representative. Calhoun championed states' rights issues, chiefly "nullification," an argument that a state could choose to ignore federal laws it deemed unconstitutional.

Portrait of John C. Calhoun, U.S. senator and vice president
Courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History
Portrait of John C. Calhoun, U.S. senator and vice president