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- A gag rule is a rule that limits or forbids the raising, consideration, or discussion of a particular topic, often but not always by members of a legislative or decision-making body. A famous example of gag rules is the series of rules concerning the discussion of slavery in effect in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1836 to 1844.
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A gag rule is a rule that limits or forbids the raising, consideration, or discussion of a particular topic, often but not always by members of a legislative or decision-making body. A famous example of gag rules is the series of rules concerning the discussion of slavery in effect in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1836 to 1844.
The enactment of the Gag Rule, rather than discouraging petitioners, energized the anti-slavery movement to flood the Capitol with written demands. Activists held up the suppression of debate as an example of the slaveholding South’s infringement of the rights of all Americans. Petition sent to Congress during the 1830s.
In United States history, the gag rule was a series of rules that forbade the raising, consideration, or discussion of slavery in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1836 to 1844. They played a key role in rousing support for ending slavery.
- Prelude
- Circumventing Petitions
- The Pinckney Committee
- Gag Rules
- Permanent Gag Rule
- Whigs in Power
- Repeal of The Gag Rule
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right “to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” During the nation’s formative years, citizens exercised that right so regularly that early rules of the House of Representatives designated the first thirty days of each session as petition days. Throughout the rest o...
By the 1830s, Congressional tactics for circumventing troublesome petitions were no longer proving effective. Abolitionist organizations such as the American Anti-Slavery Society were urging citizens to flood the House with anti-slavery petitions. During that decade, the number of petitions increased from the hundreds to the thousands, with hundred...
On February 4, 1836, Henry L. Pinckney of South Carolina proposed merging all anti-slavery petitions and referring them to a select committee, charged with determining the authority of Congress to regulate slavery in the territories and in the District of Columbia. House Speaker James K. Polk consented and appointed a nine-member committee to study...
Three months later, the Pinckney Committee submitted its report, which concluded that Congress had no constitutional authority to regulate slavery in the territories and that it would be “impolitic” for it to disturb the status of slavery in the nation’s capital. The committee recommended that: Rationalizing its proposal to table all petitions rela...
Southern-imposed censorship became more severe in 1840 when Representative Henry Wise of Virginia proposed amending the House rules to impose a permanent gag on the discussion of anti-slavery petitions. Representative Waddy Thompson of South Carolina did Wise one better and recommended an even stricter prohibition on the consideration of any legisl...
The political climate changed in 1841 when the Whig Party took control of the 27thCongress. The shift in power renewed the hopes of John Quincy Adams and his anti-slavery followers to overturn the gag rule in the House. Most Whigs, however, were more focused on enacting other parts of their party’s platform, making them willing to make concessions ...
When the House convened for the second session, Adams introduced yet another resolution rescinding the gag rule on December 3, 1844. Representative Jacob Thompson of Mississippi moved to lay Adams’s resolution on the table. Remarkably, the House defeated Thompson’s motion by a vote of 104-80. Perhaps even more unexpectedly, the members then approve...
- Harry Searles
Gag rule, in U.S. history, any of a series of congressional resolutions that tabled, without discussion, petitions regarding slavery; passed by the House of Representatives between 1836 and 1840 and repealed in 1844. Abolition petitions, signed by more than 2,000,000 persons, had inundated Congress.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Feb 22, 2019 · The gag rule was a legislative tactic employed by southern members of Congress beginning in the 1830s to prevent any discussion of enslavement in the House of Representatives. The silencing of enslavement opponents was accomplished by a resolution first passed in 1836 and renewed repeatedly for eight years.
The “Gag” rule. “ Am I gagged or am I not? Representative John Quincy Adams responding to the gag rule in the House of Representatives, May 25, 1836. The Constitution guarantees citizens the right "to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
