John Quincy Adams: Address to Constituents at Braintree

Glossary

• Creole people of French or Spanish descent born and raised in the New World
• habeas corpus Latin for “present the body”; the legal right of an accused person not to be held or detained without the opportunity of being formally charged for specific crimes
• her New Hampshire
• manacles and fetters handcuffs and ankle chains
• Moloch in the Old Testament, a god worshipped by Israel’s neighbors through the sacrificing of children to him and thus a name used for anything that demands extreme sacrifice
• Mr. [Nathan] Appleton a native of New Hampshire (1779–1861) who in 1842 represented a Massachusetts district in Congress, where he was known for his support of high tariffs
• Nullification refusal by a U.S. state to enforce the laws of the federal government
• pander to appeal to someone in a dishonorable manner
• panoply protective armor
• preponderancy numerical superiority
• self-emancipators liberators
• speculating adventurers investors whose aim is to increase their profits without regard to law or principles
• stamp type
• sycophants flatterers, hangers-on
• tariff a tax or duty on imported goods
• ar against England for the Island of Cuba England won control of Cuba from Spain in 1762, but traded it for Florida in the following year.
• wheedled influenced by pressure or nagging