Calhoun County, Illinois, USA

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• Illinois & the Civil War

The Kingdom of Calhoun (or Calhoun County, Illinois, USA) is a long peninsula between the Mississippi & Illinois Rivers. Much of the Kingdom of Calhoun is virtually an island between two great rivers. The northern border to the "mainland" is less than 17 miles wide. The only other connections are the lone bridge from Hardin to East Hardin, Illinois, and four ferry routes.

The Kingdom of Calhoun has lots to offer visitors: apple orchards, the Kampsville Archaelogical Museum [excavations of an early American Indian habitation site], as well as spectacular views of the Illinois River & the Mighty Mississippi.

Named for John C. Calhoun

John Caldwell Calhoun [1782-1850] was a lawyer, statesman, and champion of Southern rights. He served as a US Representative and a US Senator from South Carolina, Secretary of War under President Monroe, Vice-President of the United States[1825-1832] under US Presidents John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, and Secretary of State under US President John Tyler.

Calhoun is recognized as the "Father of Nullification" [States Rights], a political idea that any state could nullify any federal law that the state felt was unconstitutional. The idea surfaced from 1798-1802, but was not tested until 1832, when passage of a tariff law aroused the anger of Southerners and John C. Calhoun. President Jackson opposed the idea of nullification, and the controversy contributed to Calhoun's resignation from the US Vice Presidency in 1832.

Calhoun did not leave politics. From his position in the US Senate, he was a powerful spokesman in support of slavery and the rights of the Southern states. Although he died ten years before the outset of the Civil War, Calhoun's name is intertwined in most discussions of the causes of the war.

Established seven years after Illinois became a State

Formed from Pike County, Illinois on 10 Jan 1825.

Part of the Military Tract