John C. Calhoun was vice president during the terms of John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson from 1825 to 1832. One of the most colorful and outspoken defenders of states rights and Southern causes Calhoun is well known to historians for much more than just having been a vice president. 

He was born 1782 in Abbeville Georgia. He attended Waddel academy and later graduated with honors from Yale in 1804. He studied law at Reeves in Connecticut and was admitted to the bar in 1807. He served less than a year in the Georgia legislature before being elected to the US House of Representatives where he served from 1811 to 1817. He was a leader of the "War hawks" during the War of 1812. He was Secretary of War for James Monroe from 1817 to 1825. 

In 1824 Calhoun was a candidate for president but wound up as vice president when John Quincy Adams was elected President in one of Americas most highly contested elections. Four years later he was reelected to the vice presidency when Andrew Jackson defeated J.Q. Adams. John C. Calhoun was the first and will certainly be the last Vice President to have served under two presidents who were political opponents. 

During his time as Jackson's VP he defended the rights of the states to declare null and void federal laws with in the borders of that state. He resigned the office of Vice President after being elected as the US Senator from Georgia in 1832 and served until 1843. When he was John Tyler's Secretary of State he secured the annexation of Texas. Calhoun was again elected to the Senate and served until his death in 1850. 

Something to consider: A man who is greatly honored in the South as a foremost defender of states rights and Southern causes earned his college and law degrees in a the "Yankee" state of Connecticut.

Sketch of the Calhoun Homestead