Floride Calhoun

Floride Bonneau Calhoun (née Colhoun; February 15, 1792 – July 25, 1866) was the wife of U.S. politician John C. Calhoun. She was known for her leading role in the Petticoat affair, which occurred during her husband's service as vice president of the United States. In that role, Mrs. Calhoun led the wives of other Cabinet members in ostracizing Peggy Eaton, the wife of Secretary of War John Eaton, whom they considered a woman of low morals. The affair helped damage relations between John C. Calhoun and President Andrew Jackson, and effectively ended any legitimate chance of John Calhoun becoming president of the United States. Background and early life Floride Bonneau Colhoun was born to Floride Bonneau and John E. Colhoun, who served as a U.S. Senator from 1801 to 1802. She was a niece of Rebecca Colhoun Pickens, wife of Andrew Pickens. On January 8, 1811, she married John C. Calhoun, her first-cousin-once-removed (her father's first cousin). Soon after their marriage, her husband was elected to Congress, leaving his wife in charge of his plantation, Fort Hill, in present-day Clemson, South Carolina. Within the next eighteen years, she gave birth to 10 children, five daughters, of whom three died in infancy, and five sons, Andrew Pickens Calhoun (1811–1865) Floride Pure Calhoun (1814–1815) Jane Calhoun (1816–1816) Anna Maria Calhoun (1817–1875) Elizabeth Calhoun (1819–1820) Patrick Calhoun (1821–1858) John Caldwell Calhoun Jr. (1823–1850) Martha Cornelia Calhoun (1824–1857) James Edward Calhoun (1826–1861) William Lowndes Calhoun (1829–1858).