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Plaque would add slavery context to Charleston's John Calhoun statue

calhoun (WSOC)

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Charleston's History Commission is not satisfied with the wording of a plaque that will be added to the John Calhoun statue in Marion Square.

The plaque, which Mayor John Tecklenburg proposed, focuses on Calhoun's legacy and his controversial views on slavery.

It was erected in 1896, three decades after the Civil War and nearly 50 years after Calhoun’s death.

Many have come to see the statue as a racist relic of the past because of Calhoun’s support of slavery.

Tecklenburg suggested it after the violence in Charlottesville and does not want the statue removed.

Once the commission approves the wording, it will go to the City Council.

Below is the proposed text for the plaque:

"This statue to John C. Calhoun (1782 - 1850) is a relic of the crime against humanity, the folly of some political leaders and the plaque of racism. It remains standing today as a grave reminder that many South Carolinians once viewed Calhoun as worthy of memorialization even though his political career was defined by his support of race-based slavery. Historic preservation, to which Charleston is dedicated, includes this monument as a lesson to future generations.

It was erected in 1896, replacing an earlier monument begun in 1858, three years before the Civil War (1861 - 1865). Calhoun served as Vice President of the United States under two Presidents, as U.S. Secretary of War, as U.S. Secretary of State, as a U.S. Senator and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. A brilliant political theorist, he was the author of two important works on the U.S. Constitution and the Federal Government.

A member of the Senate's "Great Triumvirate" that included Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Henry Clay of Kentucky, Calhoun championed state's rights and nullification, the right of an individual state to disobey/ignore a Federal law with which it did not agree. Unlike many of the founding fathers who viewed the enslavement of Africans as "a necessary evil" to possibly be overcome, Calhoun believed/advocated the institution of slavery as "a positive good."

The monument was erected at a time when many South Carolinians still saw the Confederacy a noble experiment based on its commitment to slavery. They believed in white supremacy and enacted decisive legislation legalizing racial segregation, ideas now condemned by all and universally recognized as repugnant to the United States of America's core ideals and values."

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