Documents from the final year in the life of a great American statesman; The Papers of John C. Calhoun, Volume XXVII concludes the half-century project of the scholarly edition and publication of the letters, speeches, and papers of John C. Calboun. This volume chronicles Calhoun's last sojourn at his Fort Hill home in the fall of 1849, his final months in Washington and fatal illness, and critical phases of the free soil controversy. Calhoun died on March 31, 1850, after a career of political service that began in 1808 and included membership in the South Carolina and United States Houses of Representatives, the United States Senate, the vice presidency, and executive posts as secretary of war and secretary of state. This volume also includes an extensive supplement of documents from 1804 to 1848 that were not available for inclusion in earlier volumes.