they seemed to be opposed to granting liberty to the majority of the population of South Carolina. In fact, the effort to deny liberty to the the black population, then and in the future, was the reason for the brief pretense to the confederate states.
Not to be any more contentious than you are being, I suppose the same thing could be said of the US Constitution which seemed to be opposed to granting liberty to the women and Indians of their population.
So you can see that many minority populations were being marginalized by majorities....just the argument that Calhoun was making in the 1848 speech.
He was arguing for either political responsibility or constraints via law to protect against loss of rights.
Interpret that as you will.