"distinctive characteristics" reminds me of "The peculiar institution of the South---that, on the maintenance of which the very existence of the slaveholding St

"distinctive characteristics" reminds me of "The peculiar institution of the South---that, on the maintenance of which the very existence of the slaveholding States depends" http://users.wfu.edu/zulick/340/calhoun2.html http://users.wfu.edu/zulick/340/calhoun2.html