Calhoun was a U.S. statesman and a spokesman for the slave plantation system in the South. As a young congressman from South Carolina, he helped guide the U.S. into a war with Great Britain. He also established the Second Bank of the United States. He became the U.S. secretary of war, vice president, and even achieved secretary of state. As nationalist in his political career, Calhoun was one of the leading War Hawks who managed to send the unprepared United States into war with Great Britain in 1812. After the Treaty of Ghent that ended that conflict, Calhoun was responsible for starting the Second Bank of the United States. Calhoun was a candidate for the presidency in 1824. He eventually dropped out of the race due to partisan attacks from
