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John Quincy Adams Autograph Manuscript Signed...
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John Quincy Adams Defies Congress in this Fiery Manuscript Against Slavery and Censorship: "I ask you not what freedom of speech is left to your Representative in Congress - but what freedom of speech of the Press and of thought is left to you?"
John Quincy Adams Autograph Manuscript Signed ("John
Quincy Adams"). Four pages of a bifolium, 8 x 10 inches;
Washington; March 8, 1837.In this fiery missive, addressed "To the inhabitants of the 12th Congressional District of Massachusetts," Adams boldly objects to his proposed censure in the House after attempting to introduce a petition written by enslaved African Americans, acting in direct opposition to the "gag" rule adopted by Congress in May 1836. He recounts, in vivid detail, the extraordinary debate that followed his attempt to clarify whether such a petition fell under the House's standing resolution to automatically table all slavery-related petitions.
The manuscript reads, in part:
"When on the 6th of February last, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States, transferred to the House, the responsibility of answering the question which I had addressed to him, whether a Petition, which I held in my hand, purporting to come from Slaves, was or was not embraced by the Resolution of the preceding 18th of Jan'y prescribing that all such Papers should be laid on the table, without being printed or referred, and without any further action of the House upon them whatever; the most remarkable characteristic of the debate which followed, was the struggle of the Slave representation to escape from answering the question - they never did answer it...Besides, the impulse of the Slave representation was not to answer the question but to punish or at least to frighten the enquirer...
Mr. John M. Patton of Virginia, the Representative of the District of which Fredericksburg forms a part...said he was for going to the fountainhead at once, and asked leave to offer a resolution, not concerning the Petition from Slaves, but that the Petition from nine women of Fredericksburg, which had been received, and laid on the table under the order of the 18th of January, should be taken off the table and returned to the member from Massachusetts, who had offered it...
One member was of opinion that the gentleman from Massachusetts was to receive any countenances from the Slave, it was time for the members from the South to go home. Another thought that if any man should disgrace the government under which he lived by presenting a petition from Slaves praying for emancipation, the petition should by order of the House be committed to the flames - to which combustion another member opined that the man who should present the Petition should also be consigned. The Furnace was now sufficiently heated, and Mr. Thompson of South Carolina, a gentleman of great politeness and courtesy, offered as an amendment to the proposition, the following Resolution, 'Resolved that the Honourable John Quincy Adams, by the attempt just made by him to introduce a petition, purporting on its face to be from Slaves, has been guilty of a gross disrespect to this House, and that he be instantly brought to the bar, to receive the severe censure of the Speaker.'
...Can you believe, that your representative, on that common floor, for asking of the Speaker, the simple question, whether a Petition from Slaves, came within a Resolution of the House, which it unquestionably did, became from that instant, in the eyes of those Master-members, a criminal to be punished, and that the only question between them was whether he should be instantly dragged to the bar, and severely censured, by a Master Speaker - or expelled from the House, or burnt with his Petition at the stake?
...My constituents! Reflect upon the purpose of this resolution...If such a question as I asked of the Speaker, is a direct invitation of the Slaves to insurrection; forfeiting all my rights as a Representative of the People, subjecting me to indictment by a grand jury - to conviction by a petit jury, and to an infamous penitentiary cell, I ask you not what freedom of speech is left to your Representative in Congress - but what freedom of speech of the Press and of thought is left to you?"
A full transcript of the manuscript is available in the lot's extended description online.
After his single term as President, Adams returned to public life in the House of Representatives, where he emerged as one of the most formidable and provocative legislators of his generation. Freed from executive constraints, he devoted his congressional career (spanning from 1830 until his collapse on the House floor in 1848) to opposing slavery and defending the right of petition.
The immediate context of this manuscript was the adoption of the gag rule, or the Pinckney Resolutions, in May 1836, which automatically tabled all petitions related to slavery. Adams seized upon the issue as both a constitutional and moral battleground. On February 6, 1837, following several unsuccessful attempts to challenge the rule, he brought to the floor two petitions, one on behalf of enslaved people and the other purportedly written by them, setting in motion what historian William Miller described as "one of the most extraordinary weeks in the history of the House" (Arguing About Slavery, 225).
In this remarkable address to his constituents, expertly weaving pro-speech and anti-slavery rhetoric into a powerful defense of his actions, Adams rails against the censorious actions of the pro-slavery "Master members" of Congress. By initially framing the issue as one of procedural rights rather than abolition itself, he compelled broader engagement on the floor. The result, as he records, was near chaos. One member even called for Adams to be "burnt with his petition at the stake" for daring to imply that enslaved people were the constituents of the Southern representatives. Miller notes that "the old ex-president shocked the establishment of the time to a degree that is difficult for later generations, after all the dust has settled, to appreciate" (p. 266).
The Southern representatives immediately called for Adams' censure, and he only narrowly avoided that fate when the resolution was tabled by a vote of 106 to 93. Though the gag rule remained in place, Adams's actions galvanized the abolitionist movement. The American Anti-Slavery Society responded by inundating Congress with petitions-more than 125,000 between 1837 and 1838-turning the rule itself into a national controversy. Adams persisted in his campaign and, in 1844, succeeded in securing the repeal of the gag rule by a vote of 108 to 80.
This manuscript stands as a deeply revealing artifact from one of the most contentious political struggles of the antebellum period, capturing Adams at his most defiant as he championed the cause of human liberty.
Condition: Fine. Light, even toning with flattened folds; a few minute instances of foxing and soiling. Very minor edgewear and separations at the fold lines, not affecting text.
References: Miller, William Lee. Arguing About Slavery. New York: A. A. Knopf, 1996.
More Information: Full transcript:
"Fellow Citizens:—
When, on the 6th of February last, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States transferred to the House the responsibility of answering the question which I had addressed to him, whether a petition, which I held in my hand, purporting to come from slaves, was or was not embraced by the resolution of the preceding 18th of January, prescribing that all such papers should be laid on the table, without being printed or referred, and without any further action of the House upon them, whatever: the most remarkable characteristic of the debate which followed, was the struggle of the slave representation to escape from answering the question. They never did answer it. There are in the House one hundred representatives of slaves, about eighty of whom were present. There was not a man among them who did not know, or who dared to deny, that it was included in that resolution; and the first of them who rose, Mr. Hawes, of Georgia, after expressing his astonishment and surprise at my audacity, not only then, but on former days, in presenting abolition petitions, fairly acknowledged that he did not know how to answer my question, and thought it might be giving too much importance to the petition to object to its being received. He then proceeded in a strain of invective upon me, till I called him to order; upon which he proceeded to announce his intention to move that the petition should be rejected, subject to the alternative of a permission, that it should be withdrawn. But I had not presented the petition. It was not in the possession of the House, and therefore could neither be rejected, nor by the order of the House withdrawn. Besides, the impulse of the slave representation was not to answer the question, but to punish, or at least to frighten the inquirer. Mr. Haynes was immediately admonished that no slaveholder must offer such a motion, and immediately withdrew that which he had proposed to make. The torrid zone was in commotion. Half-subdued calls of 'Expel him, expel him,' were heard from various parts of the Hall, and the boldest spirits, without yet venturing upon any specific charge, were instigating each other to some deed of noble daring, and of instant execution, to vindicate the insulted honor of the South. At this moment, Mr. John M. Patton, of Virginia, the representative of the District of which Fredericksburg forms a part, one of the ablest, most independent, and most rational of the slaveholding members, seeing into what absurdities they were about to rush, attempted to divert the torrent of their wrath into another channel. He said he was for going to the fountain-head at once, and asked leave to offer a resolution, not concerning the petition from slaves, but that the petition from nine women, of Fredericksburg, which had been received and laid on the table, under the order of the 18th of January, should be taken off the table and returned to the member from Massachusetts who had offered it. The rules of the House were forthwith suspended, to enable him to offer it; and he did offer it. The reason that he alleged for his resolution was, that the petition came from free negroes, and colored persons of bad character. This was ingeniously devised, but did not suit the fiery temper of the moment. One member was of opinion, that if the gentleman from Massachusetts was to receive any countenance from the House, it was time for the members from the South to go home. Another thought that if any man should disgrace the government under which he lived, by presenting a petition from slaves praying for emancipation, the petition should, by order of the House, be committed to the flames, to which combustion another member opined, that the man who should present the petition should also be consigned. The furnace was now sufficiently heated, and Mr. Thompson, of South Carolina, a gentleman of great politeness and courtesy, offered as an amendment to the proposition the following resolution:
'Resolved, That the Honorable John Quincy Adams, by the attempt just made by him to introduce a petition, purporting on its face to be from slaves, has been guilty of a gross disrespect to the House, and that he be instantly brought to the bar, to receive the severe censure of the Speaker.'
This was the first of a series of resolutions, which absorbed three days of the time of the House, but upon which I shall not now waste yours. I invite your attention to it now, only to request you to mark its characteristic tone. Mr. Jefferson has observed that the intercourse between master and slave is a perpetual succession of boisterous and degrading passions; and it is in the order of nature that the habitual indulgence of this temper of overbearing domination insensibly pervades the general character of the master, and urges him to assume a tone of superiority over his equals, and to hold this lofty bearing just so far as he finds it tolerated without rebuke. On the floor of the House of Representatives, the members, whether representing slaves or mere freemen, are upon a footing of perfect equality with each other. Can you believe that your representative, on that common floor, for asking of the Speaker the simple question, whether a petition from slaves came within the resolution of the House, which it unquestionably did, because, from that instant, in the eyes of these master-members, a criminal to be punished, and that the only question between them was, whether he should be instantly dragged to the bar, and severely censured by a master-speaker, or expelled from the House, or burnt with his petition at the stake?
The whole transaction, from beginning to end, was in the highest degree disorderly. The resolution offered by Mr. Waddy Thompson was itself wholly out of order as an amendment to Mr. Patton's resolution, which related to a subject altogether different. The Speaker's duty was to reject at once Mr. Thompson's resolution as out of order; but the Speaker was a master, and he received it. Mr. Thompson's resolution was tinkered between him and Mr. Haynes, and Mr. Lewis, of Alabama, till it assumed the following shape:—
'Resolved, That John Quincy Adams, a member from the State of Massachusetts, by his attempts to introduce into this House a petition from slaves, for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, committed an outrage on the rights and feelings of a large portion of the people of this Union; a flagrant contempt for the dignity of this House; and, by extending to slaves a privilege only belonging to freemen, directly invites the slave population to insurrection; and that the said member be forthwith called to the bar of the House, to be censured by the Speaker.'
My constituents! reflect upon the purport of this resolution, which was immediately accepted by Mr. Thompson, as a modification of his own, and as unhesitatingly received by the Speaker. He well knew that I had made no attempt to introduce in the House a petition from slaves, and if I had, he knew that I should have done no more than exercise my right as a member of the House, and that the utmost extent of the power of the House would have been to refuse to receive the petition. The Speaker's duty was to reject instantaneously this resolution, and to tell Mr. Lewis and Mr. Thompson, that the first of his obligations was, to protect the rights of speech of members of that House, which I had not in the slightest degree infringed. But the Speaker was a master.
Observe, too, that, in this resolution, the notable discovery was first made, that I had directly invited the slaves to insurrection, of which bright thought Mr. Thompson afterwards availed himself, to threaten me with the grand jury of the District and the penitentiary, as an incendiary and a felon. I pray you to remember this, not on my account, or from the suspicion that I could, or shall ever, be moved from my purpose by such menaces, but to give you the measure of slaveholding freedom—of speech, of the press, of action, of thought! If such a question as I asked of the Speaker is a direct invitation of the slaves to insurrection, forfeiting all my rights as a representative of the people, subjecting me to indictment by a grand jury, to conviction by a petit jury, and to an infamous penitentiary cell—I ask you not what freedom of speech is left to your representative in Congress, but what freedom of speech, of the press, and of thought, is left to you?
A slaveholding President of the United States has urgently recommended to Congress the enactment of a law to prohibit, under severe penalties, 'the circulation in the Southern States, through the mail, of incendiary publications, intended to instigate the slaves to insurrection.' That law the Congress of the United States have hitherto had too much self-respect to pass. But if it had, this resolution, the fruit of the combined wisdom of slave representation from South Carolina and Alabama, furnishes for your use an ample commentary to expound what they understand and mean by incendiary publications intended to instigate the slaves to insurrection; and what they of course would have excluded by severe penalties from circulation by the mail.
Mr. Patton, whose seat was next to mine, and at the same table, had got a hint, perhaps from me, or from hearing my answer to some inquirer at my seat, that the petition was not for the abolition of slavery, and he knew that I had not attempted to offer it; he therefore cautioned the movers of the resolutions, that their proceedings were rather harsh, and somewhat over-hasty in their assumption of facts. This gave me the first opportunity of interposing a word of self-defence—for which I refer you to my next address.
John Quincy Adams."
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2026 June 19 The John H. Freund Americana Collection Signature® Auction #6331 (go to Auction Home page)
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