John C. Calhoun (March 18, 1782 – March 31, 1850) was a senator from South Carolina, a Cabinet member, and the seventh Vice President of the United States, from 1825 to 1832, under presidents John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Calhoun began his political career in the House of Representatives as a prominent leader of the war hawk faction supporting the War of 1812. Early in his career, he was a modernizer and a proponent of a strong national government and protective tariffs. By the late 1820s, his views reversed and he became a leading proponent of states' rights, limited government, and opposition to high tariffs. His support for South Carolina's right to nullify federal tariff legislation put him into conflict with unionists such as Jackson, and in 1832 he resigned as vice president and entered the Senate. As Secretary of State under John Tyler from 1844 to 1845, he supported the annexation of Texas as a means to promote slavery, and helped settle the Oregon boundary dispute with Britain.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Calhoun

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1892:

Lord Stanley of Preston pledged to donate an award for Canada's top-ranked amateur ice hockey club, now known as the Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Cup

1906:

Romanian inventor Traian Vuia became the first person to fly a heavier-than-air monoplane with an unassisted takeoff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traian_Vuia

1969:

Vietnam War: The United States began secretly bombing the Sihanouk Trail in Cambodia, used by communist forces to infiltrate South Vietnam. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sihanouk_Trail

1996:

The deadliest fire in Philippine history burned a nightclub in Quezon City, leaving 162 dead. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_Disco_fire

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

jar: 1. (transitive) To preserve (food) in a jar. […] 2. (transitive) To knock, shake, or strike sharply, especially causing a quivering or vibrating movement. 3. (transitive) To harm or injure by such action. 4. (transitive, figuratively) To shock or surprise. 5. (transitive, figuratively) To act in disagreement or opposition, to clash, to be at odds with; to interfere; to dispute, to quarrel. 6. (transitive, intransitive) To (cause something to) give forth a rudely tremulous or quivering sound; to (cause something to) sound discordantly or harshly. 7. (intransitive) To quiver or vibrate due to being shaken or struck. 8. (intransitive, figuratively) Of the appearance, form, style, etc., of people and things: to look strangely different; to stand out awkwardly from its surroundings; to be incongruent. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jar

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Ethics occupies a central place in philosophy because it is concerned with sin, with the origin of good and evil and with moral valuations. And since these problems have a universal significance, the sphere of ethics is wider than is generally supposed. It deals with meaning and value and its province is the world in which the distinction between good and evil is drawn, evaluations are made and meaning is sought.   --Nikolai Berdyaev https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikolai_Berdyaev