2006-06
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/31/2006
In 1836 southern Congressmen passed a "gag rule" providing that the House automatically table petitions against slavery. Adams contended that these "Gag Rules" were a direct violation of the First Amendment to the Federal Constitution, and refused to be silenced on the question, fighting for repeal with indomitable courage, in spite of the bitter denunciation of his opponents. Each year the number of anti-slavery petitions received and presented by him increased; perhaps the climax was in 1837, when Adams presented a petition from twenty-two slaves, and, when threatened by his opponents with censure, defended himself with remarkable keenness and ability. Adams tirelessly fought the rule for eight years until finally he obtained its repeal in 1844. Autograph Letter Signed, “Elisha Haley” 1p. quarto, House of Representatives, Washington, February 5, 1837, with integral leaf addressed to Adam Larrabee of Connecticut, and is franked “E. Haley MC.” The letter reads in part: “...With respect to the abolition Petition which you mentioned aht was presented by Mr. Adams, I only say, Sir, that your opinion as to my motive in voting as I did was well founded. There is not perhaps any one thing more justly and better served by the Constitution than the sacred right of Petition, and the right of Petitioning implies the right of being heard. If the Petition has been refered to a Committee with instructions to Report their opinion on the subject I think would have been the proper course. I have had two abolition Petions sent to me which I have presented to the House which was laid on the table under a resolution of the House. I have also one Remonstrance against the abolition of Slavery which could not be read but was laid on the Table, which was signed by more than 200 men....” Fine. HALEY, Elisha (1776-1860) Served in the State house of representatives in 1820, 1824, 1826, 1829, 1833, and 1834; member of the State senate in 1830; captain in the State militia; elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-fourth Congress and reelected as a Democrat to the Twenty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1835-March 3, 1839); chairman, Committee on Public Expenditures (Twenty-fifth Congress). Captain Adam Larrabee (1878-1869) graduated from the United States Military academy at West Point in 1811, and served with distinction in the war of 1812. In the campaign of the St. Lawrence river, he took part in the attack on La Colle Mills, as a first-lieutenant of artillery, and was shot through the lungs (on March 30, 1814), the bullet being taken from its lodgment place against his shoulder blade. That historic piece of lead may now be seen in the state historical department at Des Moines, where it is preserved as a relic.
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