Calhoun was a strong Jeffersonian Republican. He was elected in 1807 to South Carolina's state legislature and in 1811 he represented his state in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was in favor of a war against Great Britain as early as 1807. In 1817 he became secretary of war under James Madison. Calhoun briefly ran for president in 1824, but withdrew early and ran for vice president instead.