John Quincy Adams and the Gag Rule, 1835–1850 (Witness to History)

Examining the congressional debates on antislavery petitions before the Civil War.Passed by the House of Representatives at the start of the 1836 session, the gag rule rejected all petitions against slavery, effectively forbidding Congress from addressing the antislavery issue until it was rescinded in late 1844.

In the Senate, a similar rule lasted until 1850.

Strongly supported by all southern and some northern Democratic congressmen, the gag rule became a proxy defense of slavery’ s morality and economic value in the face of growing pro-abolition sentiment.