Arguing about Slavery: John Quincy Adams and the Great Battle in the United States CongressIn the 1830s slavery was so deeply entrenched that it could not even be discussed in Congress, which had enacted a "gag rule" to ensure that anti-slavery petitions would be summarily rejected. This stirring book chronicles the parliamentary battle to bring "the peculiar institution" into the national debate, a battle that some historians have called "the Pearl Harbor of the slavery controversy." The campaign to make slavery officially and respectably debatable was waged by John Quincy Adams who spent nine years defying gags, accusations of treason, and assassination threats. In the end he made his case through a combination of cunning and sheer endurance. Telling this story with a brilliant command of detail, Arguing About Slavery endows history with majestic sweep, heroism, and moral weight. "Dramatic, immediate, intensely readable, fascinating and often moving."--New York Times Book Review |
Contents
A Personal Introduction | 3 |
A Formal Introduction Completing the Work of the Founders | 8 |
An Indignant Rebuke to the Fanatics of the North | 27 |
Copyright | |
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Arguing about Slavery: John Quincy Adams and the Great Battle in the United ... William Lee Miller No preview available - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
Aaron Vanderpoel abolition of slavery abolitionism abolitionist Adams's amendment American slavery antislavery argument asked Buren Caleb Cushing Calhoun called citizens civil liberty committee Congress congressman Constitution Cushing debate December Declaration defending Democrats discussion District of Columbia election England floor freedom gag rule Garrison gentleman Giddings Giddings's Globe Grimké Hammond House human incendiary issue Jackson James James Henry Hammond Jefferson John Quincy Adams Joshua Giddings journal lame duck later legislature Massachusetts ment moral motion moved nation North Northern Ohio opponents parliamentary party peti petitioners Pinckney political present president principle proposed Representatives republican right of petition Senate session Slade slave trade slaveholders society South Carolina Southern Speaker speech story Texas Theodore Weld tion Union United Vermont Virginia vote Waddy Thompson Weld Whigs Whittier William William Cost Johnson William Slade women wrote York