SOON

CHAPTER V.

HIS COURSE ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION.

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OON after Mr. Adams took his seat he presented fifteen petitions from Pennsylvania for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia. He moved their reference to the standing committee on the District, saying that he did not favor that part of the prayer which asked for the abolition of slavery itself. His real reason was he thought that should abide the fate of slavery in the adjoining states. The reference was made, and seemingly nothing came of it. The south was not alarmed and years of quiet followed. His diary is silent on the subject of slavery, and slavery remained undisturbed in Congress.

The project of the annexation of Texas, which assumed definite form after the success of the Texan revolution, in 1835, and which, it was believed, had for its object the extension of slave territory, aroused apprehension at the north. Mr. Adams took no part in the rising struggle, outside the House. He was not an outside leader or orator, attended no anti-slavery conventions, made no addresses, wrote no articles for the press, or letters for publication. His task was to conduct the case in the House of Representatives, and all he needed of support, was to be continued in his seat. Conscienceless wealth and respectability were against him; but his district was genuinely Puritan, and stood by him. Mr. Adams presented more petitions in February, 1835, for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. The south and its sympathizers deemed it expedient to put a stop to this. The first battle was in the Senate, where Thomas Morris, democratic senator for Ohio, presented petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District. Buchanan denounced the agitation of the slavery question as a moral wrong. The Senate decided that all such memorials should be laid on the table. Mr. Calhoun brought forward a measure to exclude incendiary matter from the mails, and mobs in the south executed

the law in advance of its enactment. The northern states were called on for legislation, and Maine responded. Senator Ruggles declared there was not an abolitionist in that state. Arkansas was admitted, with a constitution prohibiting the abolition of slavery.

Mr. Adams, on the 4th of January, 1836, presented a petition in the usual form. Mr. Glascock, of Georgia, moved that it be not received, and a two days' debate followed. Pending this, Jarvis, of Maine, offered a resolution that the House entertain no petition to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. January 18th, Mr. Adams offered another series; one from one hundred and forty-eight women, whom he declared he thought were citizens. A motion was made to refer, followed by a motion to lay that motion on the table. February 8th, this ingenious device to defeat the right of petition, was sent to a special committee, Mr. Pinkney chairman. May 8th, the committee reported: First, Congress had no power over slavery in the states; second, Congress ought not interfere with slavery in the District; third, these petitions were disquieting, and should neither be printed nor referred, but laid on the table, and no further action taken on them. Though he asked for but five minutes, the House refused to hear Mr. Adams on the first resolution, which was adopted by one hundred and eighty-two to nine. Mr. Adams asked to be excused from voting on the second prop osition, and was indulged. The third, with its preamble, was read. He arose and declared it was unconstitutional; a violation of the rules of the House, and of the rights of the people. He was interrupted by shrieks and yells, but obstinately persisted. This proposition was adopted by one hundred and seventeen to sixty-eight-a respectable majority, and the south again breathed easily. This was the first form of the famous Atherton gag, finally embodied in the twenty-first standing rule, for so many years the target of the assaults of Mr. Adams. December 21st and 22d the House was again in an uproar over this question, and Mr. Adams had to override the storm to make his sentiments heard. He had a quarrel with the speaker, first to get his name on the journal as voting on this proposition; then as to its form, insisting that his speech should also be recorded. This was voted out of order. Then he demanded that his motion and the

ruling be recorded. This not being done he brought it up again the next day. In the debate that followed, a southern man declared that, if ever the issue came to a war, the south would conquer New England. Mr. Adams told him his "name should go down to posterity doomed to everlasting fame."

It was the fate of the south that the measures it adopted to quiet the agitation should work still greater woe, and lead to the destruction of slavery. The northern opponents of slavery, finding their right of petition denied determined to exercise it, and through Mr. Adams flooded Congress with their memorials. For a long time this made a great demand on his time, and

exposed him to no little danger. It made him the perpetual antagonist of the ruling power in the republic, and compelled him daily to face alone a bold, unscrupulous body of able, angry, persistent men; watchful and alert to catch or trap him. His opposition strengthened him, and the burdens placed upon him increased his power. When he came to have coadjutors and allies in the House, they were rather a source of weakness. He had to guard them from missteps and mistakes, to hold in check the extremists who, by precipitate action, might injure the cause. A public opinion must be formed, which should sustain every step. The north must first be conquered. The abolitionists desired to push him forward; his family and personal friends to hold him back. Between these conflicting opinions he must choose his own course, and that he did wisely.

February 3, 1837, was a day memorable in the life of Mr. Adams, and in the struggle. At the end of a series of two hundred petitions was one from ladies of Virginia, which he offered; as to the remaining one, he said he would ask the decision of the speaker before offering it. It purported to come from twenty-two slaves; he wanted to know whether it came within the rule of exclusion. The speaker hesitated, could not decide till he knew the contents of the paper. Mr. Adams said he suspected it was not what it appeared to be. He would send it to the chair. Objections. The speaker said it was so extraordinary, he would take the sense of the House. When that body came to get an idea of the case, the greatest excitement prevailed. Men rushed in from the lobbies, and many tried to speak at the same time. No one knew what the paper was. Few had heard what Mr. Adams said of it. The words "Expel him! Expel him!" were shouted. No one was equal to the emergency. No one was cool but Mr. Adams. Haynes, of South Carolina, moved to reject. Lewis, from Alabama, would punish Mr. Adams. Haynes withdrew his inadequate motion. Grantland would second Mr. Lewis, who thought if Mr. Adams was not punished, the southern men had better go home, as they did twenty-four years later. Alford, of Virginia, would move that when presented, the petition should be removed from the house and burnt. Waddy Thompson, of South Carolina, offered a resolution that Mr. Adams, for his attempt to introduce a petition purporting to come from slaves, has been guilty of gross disrespect, and that he be instantly placed at the bar of the House, and severely censured by the speaker. He made a little speech against Mr. Adams, and threatened him with a criminal prosecution. Mr. Haynes wanted to amend this, and more excited speeches followed. Then another resolve, declaring that Mr. Adams by his attempt to introduce a petition from slaves for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, had committed an outrage, a flagrant indignity, extended the rights of freemen to slaves, incited them to insurrection, and that he be forthwith censured. Mr. Lewis was still in favor of going to