Calhoun was appointed Secretary of War
Calhoun was appointed Secretary of War on December 8, 1825, and served until 1825. During the Era of Good Feelings, he maintained his position as a leading nationalist. He proposed a comprehensive program of national infrastructure reforms that he claimed would hasten economic development. His first priority was an effective navy, including steam frigates, and his second priority was a standing army of sufficient size, as well as great permanent roads, some encouragement to manufacturers, and a system of internal taxation that would not collapse from a war-time shrinkage of maritime trade, such as customs duties.
Calhoun, a reform-minded modernizer, strove to instill centralization and efficiency in the Indian Department and the Army by erecting new coastal and frontier fortifications and building military roadways, but Congress either ignored or opposed his initiatives. Calhoun established the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1824 as a result of his dissatisfaction with congressional delay, political rivalries, and ideological differences. The bureau's tasks included managing treaty talks, schools, and trading with Indians, as well as overseeing all expenses and correspondence pertaining to Indian matters. The bureau's first director was named Thomas McKenney.
During Calhoun's service as Secretary of War, the Missouri issue erupted in December 1818, when a petition from Missouri settlers demanding entrance to the Union as a slave state arrived. In response, New York Representative James Tallmadge Jr. suggested two modifications to the bill to limit the growth of slavery into what would become the new state. These amendments sparked a fierce debate between the North and South, with some openly discussing disunion.
With their Jeffersonian vision for an economy in the federal government, the "Old Republicans" in Congress attempted to downsize the operations and budget of the War Department after the war ended in 1815. Calhoun's political struggle with Treasury Secretary William H. Crawford over the president in the 1824 election marred Calhoun's tenure as War Secretary.
