Saturday, April 25, 2026

Senator John C. Calhoun to Thomas G. Clemson, September 6, 1847

Fort Hill 6th Sept 1847

MY DEAR SIR, I agree with you, that the political condition of all western Europe is very unsettled, and especially France. Nor are we much better off. Our future is very uncertain. The old parties are disorganized. The administration weak; and the termination of the Mexican war, and what will grow out of it, uncertain. We must wait for the developements of the next 12 months to know where we are. In the meantime, Clay and his friends are making a great effort to bring him out again, as a candidate, and will probably succeed. Taylor has lost ground greatly, and will probably be ruled off. He has written too many letters, and some of them very illy advised. Wright has died,1 — a severe blow to the Hunkers; and Benton is denouncing the administration, whether to break with them, or control them is uncertain; probably the latter. We (the State rights party) are making an effort to establish an independent press at Washington, as the organ of the South. A large amount has already been subscribed, and it is hoped, it will be in operation by the meeting of Congress.
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1 Silas Wright died August 27, 1847.

SOURCE: J. Franklin Jameson, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1899, Volume II, Calhoun’s Correspondence: Fourth Annual Report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, Correspondence of John C. Calhoun, p. 736-7

1 comment:

Jim Miller said...

Silas Wright (May 24, 1795 – August 27, 1847) was an influential American statesman and leading Democratic politician from New York during the Jacksonian era. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts and raised in Weybridge, Vermont, he studied law and settled in Canton, New York, where he began a successful legal and political career. Wright served in the United States House of Representatives from 1827 to 1829, as comptroller of New York from 1829 to 1833, and in the United States Senate from 1833 to 1844, where he became a close ally of Martin Van Buren and a respected advocate of fiscal conservatism and limited government. He then served as governor of New York from 1845 to 1846, promoting canal reform and prudent finances, but declined the Democratic nomination for vice president in 1844. After losing reelection as governor, he retired to his farm in Canton, where he died in 1847. Remembered for his integrity, administrative skill, and influence within the Democratic Party, Wright was one of the most prominent New York politicians of his generation.