An Anti-Slavery Crusade; a chronicle of the gathering storm
by Jesse Macy
NEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & CO.
LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
A persistent attack was also directed against the use of the United
States mails for the distribution of anti-slavery literature. Mob
violence which involved the post-office began as early as 1830, when
printed copies of Miss Grimke's Appeal to the Christian Women of the
South were seized and burned in Charleston. In 1835 large quantities of
anti-slavery literature were removed from the Charleston office and in
the presence of the assembled citizens committed to the flames.
Postmasters on their own motion examined the mails and refused to
deliver any matter that they deemed incendiary. Amos Kendall,
Postmaster-General, was requested to issue an order authorizing such
conduct. He replied that he had no legal authority to issue such an
order. Yet he would not recommend the delivery of such papers. "We owe,"
said he, "an obligation to the laws, but a higher one to the communities
in which we live, and if the former be perverted to destroy the latter,
it is patriotism to disregard them. Entertaining these views, I cannot
sanction, and will not condemn, the step you have taken." This is an
early instance of the appeal to the "higher law" in the pro-slavery
controversy. The higher law was invoked against the freedom of the
In December of ... presumably with full knowledge that a member of
his Cabinet was encouraging violations of law in the interest of
slavery, President Jackson undertook to supply the need of legal
authorization. In his annual message he made a savage attack upon the
abolitionists and recommended to Congress the "passing of such a law as
will prohibit, under severe penalties, the circulation in the Southern
States, through the mail, of incendiary publications."
This part of the President's message was referred to a select committee,
of which John C. Calhoun was chairman. The chairman's report was against
the adoption of the President's recommendation because a subject of such
vital interest to the States ought not to be left to Congress... [as]
Congress might authorize and enforce the circulation of abolition
literature through the mails in all the States. The States should
themselves severally decide what in their judgment is incendiary... The
bill recommended was in harmony with this view. It was made illegal for
any deputy postmaster "to deliver to any person whatsoever, any
pamphlet, newspaper, handbill, or other printed paper, or pictorial
representation touching the subject of slavery, where by the laws of the
said State, territory, or district their circulation is prohibited." The
bill was defeated in the Senate by a small margin.
Altogether there was an enlightening debate on the whole subject. The
exposure of the abuse of tampering with the mail created a general
reaction, which enabled the abolitionists to win a spectacular victory.
Instead of a law forbidding the circulation of anti-slavery
publications, Congress enacted a law requiring postal officials under
heavy penalties to deliver without discrimination all matter committed
to their charge. This act was signed by President Jackson, and...
Henceforth abolitionists enjoyed their full privileges in the use of the
United States mail...
An even more dramatic victory was thrust upon the abolitionists by the
inordinate violence of their opponents in their attack upon the right of
petition. John Quincy Adams, who became their distinguished champion,
was not himself an abolitionist... At the very time when a New England
ex-President was thus advising abolitionists to desist from sending
petitions to Congress, the Virginia Legislature was engaged in the
memorable debate upon a similar petition from Virginia Quakers, in which
most radical abolition sentiment was expressed by actual slaveowners.
Adams continued to present anti-slavery memorials and at the same time
to express his opposition to the demands of the petitioners...
[In 1835]... Adams, still in apparent sympathy with the pro-slavery
South on the main issue... [said petitions] should be received...
and referred to a committee; because the right of petition is sacred... At
that time only one voice had been raised in the House in support of the
abolition petitioners, that of John Dickson of New York, who had
delivered a speech of two hours in length advocating their cause...
In May, 1836, the following resolution passed the House: "Resolved, That
all petitions, memorials, resolutions, propositions, or papers relating
in any way or to any extent whatever to the subject of slavery or the
abolition of slavery, shall, without being either printed or referred,
be laid on the table, and that no further action whatever shall be had
thereon." This is commonly known as the "gag resolution." During four
successive years it was reenacted in one form or another and was not
repealed by direct vote until 1844.
When the name of Mr. Adams was called in the vote upon the passage of
the above resolution, instead of answering in the ordinary way, he said:
"I hold the resolution to be a direct violation of the Constitution of
the United States, of the rules of this House, and of the rights of my
constituents." This was the beginning of the duel between the "old man
eloquent" and a determined majority in the House of Representatives...