This procedure for the "gagging" of abolition petitions was made into a formal resolution by the House on May 26, 1836: "All petitions, memorials, resolutions, propositions, or papers, relating in any way, or to any extent whatsoever, to the subject of slavery or the abolition of slavery, shall, without being either printed or referred, be laid on the table and … no further action whatever shall be had thereon."
So much for the constitutional right to petition the government for the redress of grievances.
You should name names.
The historical slave states were New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Delaware.
Also, North and South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia were slave states. Don't ever forget to cast 4/13ths responsibility in that direction for enshrining slavery into the United States Constitution.
That is an interesting comment. It reinforces my earlier comments.
In 1836 there were relatively few hard-shell abolitionist Congressmen - North or South. The few abolitionists members of Congress were, as you noted, voted down.
The state-by-state allocation of congressional seats was then, as now, based on population. The hard truth is that many non-southern Congressmen voted to table petitions regarding slavery.
But they did it for what they considered good reasons: it was in their district's own economic and political best self-interest.
The 1836 rule was rescinded in 1844 but, to my knowledge, no proposed constitutional amendment was ever introduced to abolish slavery peacefully prior to Lincoln's invasion of the South. Not even Congressman Lincoln introduced an abolition amendment.
>>OIFVeteran you wrote: “Thank you for your reply. The statement you have him make talks about people dividing and ruling over us, rather than represent us. I think that gets to the heart of the matter. Many in the North felt that the slavocracy had ruled over the entire country for most of it’s history. They had even enforced a gag rule in congress in 1836 that tabled any petitions for the abolition of slavery. This procedure for the “gagging” of abolition petitions was made into a formal resolution by the House on May 26, 1836: “All petitions, memorials, resolutions, propositions, or papers, relating in any way, or to any extent whatsoever, to the subject of slavery or the abolition of slavery, shall, without being either printed or referred, be laid on the table and … no further action whatever shall be had thereon.”
I am familiar with that rule. From what I have read, another obstacle to the abolutionists, perhaps the biggest obstacle, were the colonizationists, like Henry Clay and then Lincoln. The colonizationists were generally virulent racists and supremacists who simply didn’t want blacks living in their country and taking “their” jobs.
Clay was somewhat of an enigma. He was both a slave-holder and colonizationist. Lincoln was a colonizationist who married into a slave-holding family, in which some of the members were also colonizationists. It was quite a web.
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>>OIFVeteran you wrote: “So much for the constitutional right to petition the government for the redress of grievances.”
The Congress couldn’t lawfully do anything about slavery without an Amendment, and I have read there was no support for one by either the northern or southern congressmen. I have also read that the abolutionists were a small (but vocal) percentage of the population of the North; but the general population didn’t want anything to do with people of color.
I have also read that over 100,000 petitions were sent to congress. The right to petition government doesn’t give you a right to be a pest on an issue that would require 3/4 of the state legislatures to change and would almost certainly be defeated.
But, I guess if it makes you feel good, do it (just kidding!)
Mr. Kalamata