While at a banquet during his vice presidency, john c. calhoun gave a toast: "to the union next to our liberty, most dear."

This meant that South Carolinians in support of secession believed liberty was more important than maintaining the Union.

Explanation:

John C. Calhoun was a statesman who during his career served as senator, secretary of war, secretary of state, and vice president. He was one of the "great triumvirate" with Daniel Webster and Henry Clay.

Calhoun emerged early as an advocate of a restrictive interpretation of the 10th Amendment and of an extension of the states' rights to the federal state power. He argued, among other things, that the states should have an absolute veto on the application within their own boundaries of all federal laws that they considered violate the constitution. This was called nullification and went back to ideas put forward by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Unlike these, however, Calhoun considered that the states had the right to withdraw from the federal union. Calhoun's approach on this issue made him an important role model for those groups who later wanted to move the southern states out of the Union.

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