May 1836

On May 26, 1836, the House of Representatives adopts a gag rule that automatically tables any petition relating to slavery without debate or referral. The rule is renewed at the start of each Congress through 1844. Rep. John Quincy Adams fights it relentlessly, calling it a violation of the First Amendment. The rule effectively bans Congressional discussion of slavery for eight years.

The House of Representatives adopted a rule automatically tabling all antislavery petitions without reading or debate — effectively silencing the First Amendment rights of hundreds of thousands of Americans who had submitted petitions demanding abolition or an end to the slave trade in Washington D.C. The gag rule was renewed in each subsequent Congress until 1844, when John Quincy Adams finally succeeded in repealing it after years of resistance. Proslavery congressmen argued that even discussing abolition endangered the Union. The rule demonstrated slaveholder control of federal institutions.