February 19, 2001 The New Federalist Page 9

On The Occasion Of The Senate Disgrace

The Inspirational Role of Congressman John Quincy Adams
by Nancy Spannaus
Library of Congress
John Quincy Adams
It was my ri!ilege to be reading, in the immediate aftermath of the double
disgra"es of the "urrent #$%$ %enate, an a""ount of Congressman &ohn
'uin"y (dams) 1*+year battle to defeat the gag rule about e!en dis"ussing
sla!ery in the #$%$ Congress$ ,oth on &an$ -, the day that the Presidential
ele"tion was to be "ertified in a .oint Congressional session, and on Feb$ 1,
the day of the %enate !ote on the "onfirmation of (ttorney /eneral &ohn
(sh"roft, not one #$%$ %enator had the "ourage of his or her "on!i"tions, to
ste forward to halt the immoral ro"eedings$ It is oular these days to tal0
about how e!ery indi!idual !ote "ounts1but not many eole ta0e that seri+
ously$ In both these "ases, a bra!e indi!idual would ha!e "hanged history,
and oened u !ital oortunities to sa!e this 2eubli"$
3ad any of our %enators, those who "laim to be "ommitted to "i!il rights so
assionately, e!en read the story of &ohn 'uin"y (dams) fight4 5ould any
of them, if they 0new what he did, e!en asire to mat"h the "ourage of the
former President, in his ad!an"ed years1 -0s and *0s1who often stood
alone, again and again, to raise the issue of the right of (meri"an "iti6ens to
etition for the abolition of the sla!e trade4
A draing from about !"#$ shos Abraham %incoln ith the &mancipation
'roclamation(
Let)s briefly re!iew the story here, for the lessons it holds for all of us$
The )ag Rule
5hen &ohn 'uin"y (dams was ele"ted to Congress in 1780, two years after
his lea!ing Presidential offi"e, the situation for those who subs"ribed to the
ideals of the 9e"laration of Indeenden"e was growing in"reasingly dim$
5ith (ndrew &a"0son)s a""ession to the Presiden"y, and then his blows
against the (meri"an %ystem e"onomi" oli"y through elimination of the
National ,an0 and of the oli"y of internal imro!ements and rote"tion,
the ower of the sla!e states was on the in"rease$ The so0esmen for
sla!ery, led by %enator &ohn Calhoun of %outh Carolina, were dominant in
the %enate, and were suorted by many Northerners as well, in their asser+
tion that nothing should be done to interfere with their :e"uliar institution$:
5ith the e"onomi" "ollase that would "ome from &a"0son)s measures, the
ressure for e;ansion of sla!ery into the 5estern territories would grow
e!en greater$
Congressman (dams did not "ome into the Congress as an abolitionist,
although he would later "ollaborate "losely with some of them$ ,ut he was
firmly "on!in"ed that sla!ery !iolated the moral foundation of the "ountry,
whi"h stood on the 9e"laration of Indeenden"e$ (nd he was "on!in"ed
that, if the debate on sla!ery "ould be for"ed, ultimately it would be shown
to be indefensible$ (nd while he did not belie!e that the Constitution
ermitted sla!ery to be outlawed where it then e;isted, he did foresee the
situation under whi"h sla!ery "ould be eliminated Constitutionally1through
the use of the war owers of the Federal go!ernment$ Proheti"ally, this
argument of (dams is what ultimately was "arried out, with Lin"oln)s <man+
"iation Pro"lamation, itself an a"t of war$
5hat (dams embar0ed uon, starting seriously in 178=, was a rogram of
resenting etitions to Congress on the issue of sla!ery$ The right to etition
the to legislati!e body is, in fa"t, enshrined in the First (mendment to the
#$%$ Constitution, and it was on this right, whi"h was e!en "onsidered an
untou"hable lega"y of "ommon law, that (dams based his ra"ti"e$ Certain
days of Congress were set aside to re"ei!e etitions, ta0en in the order of the
states, starting from the North$ ,eginning in the 178= session, more and
more of those etitions were from ordinary "iti6ens, often women, leading
for sla!ery to be eliminated in the 9istri"t of Columbia1"onsidered, as the
seat of the Federal go!ernment, to be under the Congress) "ontrol$
The %outhern %enators wanted to a!oid any debate, and they would gener+
ally mo!e to ut the etition :on the table:1i$e$, table it, in our arlan"e
today$ ,ut as etition after etition on this sub.e"t was submitted, not .ust
by (dams, but also by "ertain "olleagues from >ermont, ?aine, and New
@or0, the ro+sla!e leadershi grew more irate, and mo!ed to re.e"t the
a""etan"e of the etitions altogether$ This mo!e, finally assed in ?ay of
178-, resulted in the assage of the :gag: rule, whi"h said that all etitions
about sla!ery would not be heard$ The !ote in fa!or, by the way, was 11* to
-7$
This, howe!er, did not sto Congressman (dams, or the small grou of
Congressmen who also "ontinuously raised the issue$ In fa"t, you "ould say
that (dams be"ame more and more ro!o"ati!e, in the fa"e of the oosi+
tion$ 5ith ea"h new etition, the rhetori" of %outhern %enators would sin0
to new deths, in"luding literal threats to hang for in"itement to insurre"tion,
any indi!idual who were to "ome to the %outh with su"h roosals to abolish
sla!ery$ Not intimidated, (dams be"ame bolder$
?y fa!orite instan"e o""urred in February 178*, when (dams told the "hair
that he had before him a etition urorting to be from sla!es themsel!es,
and wished to 0now if it "ould be introdu"ed$ 5hy, e!en the lowliest sinner
has the right to etition /od, he said, in his suort of this right$
The %outherners went ballisti" o!er this suosed indignity, only to be"ome
e!en more in"ensed when (dams finally re!ealed that the sla!es) etition
was a"tually not in fa!or of their freedom, but see0ing to get him, (dams, to
sto entering su"h etitions to the Congress$ The %enators threatened to
"ensure (dams, but had to ba"0 off, simly assing a resolution denying
sla!es the right of etition$
(nd so the battle raged, session after session, with (dams and his handful of
asso"iates "onstantly gagged, until in &anuary of 17A0, a ermanent gag,
roosed by %enator 3enry 5ise of >irginia, was a"tually assed$
*attle to +ictory
,ut (dams did not sto submitting etitions, u to and in"luding one in
&anuary of 17A2, in whi"h "ertain "iti6ens of ?assa"husetts as0ed to
dissol!e the #nion, rather than be art of a nation with the sla!eholding
states$ (dams disagreed with this roosal, of "ourse, but he would not
!iolate the right of etition$ The %outhern %enators now thought they had
himB they mo!ed to "ensure him$
It was the wrong mo!e$ ,e"ause (dams had the right to defend himselfC 3e
began by ha!ing the oening aragrahs of the 9e"laration of Indeenden"e
read$ ,ut that was only the beginning, of two wee0s of defense, in whi"h he
re!iewed the Founders) !iews on sla!ery, the role >irginia used to lay in
defending liberty, and so forth and so on$ %u"h an uroar was "reated
nationally, that etitions began to our in suorting (dams, ne!er a man to
"ourt ubli" oinion$ In the end, the %outhern %enators de"ided to dro the
"ensure resolution, rather than be defeated$
For two more sessions of Congress, the battle "ontinued, with the sla!ery
issue, be"oming hotter and hotter in fa"e of the attemts to suress the
debate$ Finally, in 9e"ember 17A=, desite the resurgen"e again of the ro+
sla!ery 9emo"rats in the Congress, the fight (dams was leading for free
see"h on this issue was aarently be"oming too oliti"ally "ostly to be
"ontinued$ The initiator of the ermanent gag, %enator 5ise of >irginia,
withdrew his ob.e"tion, and the gag was o!erturned 107 to 70$
This was, of "ourse, only a small ste toward (dams) ultimate ob.e"tion,
whi"h he would ne!er seeB the abolition of sla!ery$ That would "ome 80
years after he had begun his fight in Congress, and about 1A years after he
died in his seat, in February 17A7$ ,ut (dams 0new he was fighting for
history and rin"ile, not .ust for short+term results$ (re there any (meri"an
Congressmen, %enators or 2eubli"ans, who share that "ommitment today4
Dr do we still ha!e to ele"t them4
,ut that, of "ourse, would reEuire that "iti6ens ta0e their own role in
determining history more seriously, as well$