Beschreibung:

ADAMS, John Quincy Autograph letter signed ("J.Q. Adams") as Massachusetts Congressman, to Solomon Lincoln of Hingham, Mass., Washington, 4 April 1836. 4 pages, 4to, in very fine condition. ADAMS DEFENDS THE FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT TO PETITION CONGRESS AND POSTULATES THAT WHEN A STATE OF REBELLION EXISTS, CONGRESS HAS THE POWER TO EMANCIPATE THE SLAVES IN THAT STATE A outspoken and eloquent letter written at the very outset of the impassioned abolitionist crusade that brought glory and luster to the former President's late political career, voicing a critical doctrine bearing on the right to abolish slavery. In the 1830s, reflecting an increasing militancy within the abolitionist movement, anti-slavery petitions began to flood Congress. A sizeable number originated in New England and were sent directly to Adams, who "found his mail bulging with them" (Nagel, John Quincy Adams , p.355). The powerful slave-holding bloc in Congress reacted vehemently in defense of what they saw as an essential right guaranteed by the Constitution. Adams entrenched upon his own Constitutional high ground and argued vociferously for what he believed was the First Amendment right of his constituents and all Americans to petition their elected representatives in Congress. The conflict on the floor of the Capitol reached a peak in the Spring of 1836, when southern representatives endeavored to create an obstacle that would prevent all anti-slavery petitions from ever being read in Congress. Adams's undaunted efforts on behalf of the right to petition and against this so-called Gag Rule "made him the most famous - or notorious - combatant on the floor of Congress during the next decade" (Nagel, p. 354), and his obstinate congressional defense of the Constitution and the rights that it guaranteed constituted the philosophical foundation for his late life crusade against the institution of slavery. Adams wrote Lincoln principally to salute the town of Hingham on its centennial celebration, and in this connection, offers interesting observations on the significance of their Pilgrim heritage, but clearly, the rancorous tone of the last session of Congress was much on his mind and he writes extensively to Lincoln on the debate, reiterating the critical importance of the Constitutional right to petition. He opens with a theoretical discussion of the freedom of speech and its limits: "The right to speak our mind is in point of form secured to us by the Constitution of the United States, and by all our State Constitutions. But in the exercise of that right there are considerations of prudence, of Justice and of benevolence, all of which might operate with a well constituted heart and mind as restraints and limitations upon it." But, perhaps expressing his distaste for the violent and inflammatory rhetoric recently employed by some of his radical pro-slavery opponents in Congress, he observes that "There is in our Country perhaps not enough restraint of law upon the Freedom of Speech. There is sometimes more, and sometimes less than enough restraint upon it in popular opinion ... I have the right to speak my mind. But if in speaking my mind, I do wrong to another man in his person, his property or his reputation, I abuse the right of Speech while exercising it ... I expose myself to at least retaliation in kind, and what is far more formidable, to the reproaches of my own Conscience." Unswerving in his conviction that slavery constituted a gross affront to morals and ethics, Adams had recently become increasingly indignant at the tone and tactics of the Southern bloc. According to Nagel, he was infuriated that they forced the nation to listen to what he termed "a torrent of moral depravity." (Nagle, p. 355). He was also mindful, that many of the same southern politicians had irresponsibly slandered him in the campaign and election of 1828. He notes that his own judgement about the proper limits of freedom of speech had been severely tested in recent days; "[I