Pulitzer Prize Biography Winner
John C. Calhoun: American Portrait
by Margaret Louise Coit
Summary
Margaret Louise Coit offers a vivid portrait of John C. Calhoun, the South Carolina statesman who served as vice president, senator, and the leading champion of states rights. The biography follows his journey from early nationalism to his fierce defense of Southern interests and the doctrine of nullification. Coit writes with novelistic color while charting the political forces that pushed the nation toward sectional crisis.
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Historical Context & Significance
Coit completed this first book while in her twenties, and it won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1951.