"A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks"

John C. Calhoun's quote is a warning concerning the risks of unchecked power in federal government. He is describing the increase of powerful rate of interests, such as financial institutions, that have actually become so significant that they are able to control the federal government. He is worried that these rate of interests have the ability to use their substantial wide range to adjust the government as well as its policies, which individuals themselves have actually come to be helpless in the face of this power. He is alerting that if this power is not examined, it might bring about a situation where the federal government is no longer responsible to the people, and also instead is controlled by the passions of the affluent. This might cause a situation where the federal government is no more acting in the most effective interests of the people, but instead is acting for the effective.