John Quincy Adams: Congressional Debate over Motion for Censure

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

As a representative from Massachusetts, Adams was motivated by the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and by anger toward southern congressmen who too often seemed to undermine them. At times it was difficult to determine whether Adams knew which was more important. Similarly, it was unclear whether he hated slavery more than the constitutional provision that counted slaves as three-fifths persons and gave the South disproportionate representation in the House and Electoral College. Certainly his disgust at the “gag rule” that restricted the acceptance of constituent petitions about slavery was immediate and sincere. Adams, however, deliberately antagonized the rule's proponents and snarled House proceedings. One such incident occurred on January 24, 1842, when he presented a petition from forty-six citizens of Haverhill, Massachusetts, asking that the Union be dissolved because the South was an excessive economic drain. Representatives Thomas Marshall of Kentucky and Thomas Gilmer and Henry Wise of Virginia took the bait, calling for Adams to be censured by the House and removed from the chairmanship of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

For more than two weeks debate raged, with Adams vigorously defending himself. His remarks of February 3 are typical. He places the right of petition, whatever the subject, in the context of other irrevocable rights. He also pits the North against the South and threatens the censurers with a public uprising. In truth, some southerners and Adams's fellow Whigs wanted an end to the debate. On February 7, a deal was struck whereby Adams agreed to suspend his defense if the censure resolution was tabled forever. It is difficult to assess whether these proceedings bore a measurable impact on public opinion. Abolitionists, particularly William Lloyd Garrison and his followers, did adopt a new slogan of “No Union with Slaveholders.” The House still refused to accept the petition from Haverhill.