Calhoun whirled on him fiercely, with a vigor which his wasted frame did not
indicate as possible.
"Listen, then, and I will tell you what John Calhoun means--John Calhoun,
who has loved his own state, who has hated those who hated him, who has never
prayed for those who despitefully used him, who has fought and will fight, since
all insist on that. It is true Tyler has offered me again to-day the portfolio
of secretary of state. Shall I take it? If I do, it means that I am employed
by this administration to secure the admission of Texas. Can you believe me
when I tell you that my ambition is for it all--all, every foot of new land,
west to the Pacific, that we can get, slave or free? Can you believe John Calhoun,
pro-slavery advocate and orator all his life, when he says that he believes
he is an humble instrument destined, with God's aid, and through the use of
such instruments as our human society affords, to build, not a wider slave country,
but a wider America?"
