The gag-rule was a rule adopted by the American Congress in January, 1836, on motion of John C Calhoun. Congress had long been besieged by petitions from abolitionists all over the country. Calhoun proposed that henceforth all anti-slavery petitions be laid on the table unnoticed. This infringement upon the right of petition only increased the petition spirit in the North, and the 'gag-rule' was, after a long struggle, abolished on December the 3rd, 1844. John Quincy Adams was its bitterest opponent and an ardentupholder of anti-slavery principles in Congress during ten years. Research Gag-Rule
The term popular sovereignty originated in America about the time of the acquisition of additional territory from Mexico in 1848. A suggestion was made of a middle course between the Wilmot Proviso, which prohibited the introduction of slavery into newly acquired or organized territories, and the positive permission of slavery under federal legislative enactment; namely, the question was to be settled by the inhabitants of the territories. The Kansas-Nebraska bill of 1854 purported to enforce the popular sovereignty idea. The Dred Scott decision of 1857 decided against it. The Democratic National Convention of 1856 approved of non-interference by Congress. with slavery in the Territories. Douglas, of Illinois, was an ardentadvocate of this policy, and he vainly defended it against the Dred Scott decision. The popular sovereignty idea disappeared with the outbreak of the rebellion. It was called in derision " squatter sovereignty". Research Popular Sovereignty
Slavery in the American colonies began with the importation of a cargo of slaves into Virginia by a Dutch ship in 1619. In the other colonies it was gradually introduced. The slave trade was favoured by the British Government during the eighteenth century. Meantime a sentiment unfavourable to it began to develop in the colonies. The Germantown Quakers drew up a memorial against it in 1688, Boston town meeting in 1701. Woolman and other Quakers preached against it. Slaves were few in the North, but numerous in the South, where their increase and the danger felt from them caused severe laws respecting them.
The American Revolution, as a movement for liberty, with its declaration proclaiming all men free and equal, joined with the humanitarian spirit of the close of the century to increase anti-slavery sentiment. The Northern States either abolished slavery or provided for gradual emancipation. All the States but the southernmost forbade the importation of slaves from abroad. But the sentiment soon declined.
In the Constitution of 1787, States were given representation in the House of Representatives for three-fifths of their slaves, and Congress was forbidden to prohibit the slave trade until 1808. The invention of the cotton-gin made slave labour more profitable than ever before, and the South began to defend slavery as a positive good, in spite of its obvious economic disadvantages.
Abolition societies, first formed about 1793, languished after 1808. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 arranged that the area west of the Mississippi and north of 36 degrees 30 minutes should not be open to slavery, except in the Case of Missouri. The Ordinance of 1787 had forbidden slavery in the region north of the Ohio.
The American Colonization Society tried to palliate the evils of slavery by emancipation and deportation. About 1830 the agitation against slavery took on a more ardentphase, and henceforth for thirty years slavery was the most absorbing of political themes. Slave labour demanded more and more new land, and the Government was led to the annexation of Texas and the war with Mexico largely by this need. After bitter disputes, the territory so acquired was thrown open to slavery if the settlers desired it; this was done by the Compromise of 1850. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 extended the same permission to territory north of 36 degrees 30 minutes, repealing the Missouri Compromise; and the Supreme Court sustained such repeal.
The question of slavery in the territories proved the crucial question. Many in the North who had no desire for the abolition of slavery in States where it was already existent and legal were unwilling to see it extended, while slave-owners claimed Constitutional right to protection of their property in slaves, as essential if they were to have any share in the common territories. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and the unwillingness of Northern people to execute it assisted to precipitate conflict. Finally, in 1860, the election of Abraham Lincoln was taken by the South as proof that their claims were to be disregarded, and secession and the American Civil War resulted.
In 1790 there were 698,000 slaves in the United States 40,000 in the North, 293,000 in Virginia, 107,000 in South Carolina, 103,000 in Maryland, 101,000 in North Carolina; in 1800, 894,000; in 1810, 1,191,000; in 1820, 1,538,000; in 1830, 2,009,000; in 1840, 2,487,000; in 1850, 3,204,000; in 1860, 3,954,000, the last being about one-fourth of the total population of the Southern States. Research Slavery in America
The Sons of Liberty was the name first assumed by a society organized in Connecticut, in 1755, to advance theological liberty. Barre, in his speech in Parliament on February the 6th, 1765, applied the words to the whole body of American separatists. They advocated non-importation, aided in the hanging in effigy of the stamp distributor, Oliver, in 1765, and proposed, in 1774, the organization of a Continental Congress. They embraced mainly the younger and more ardent element. Research Sons of Liberty
The carrot (Daucus Carota) is a biennialvegetable of the family Umbelliferae. It is a native of Britain and Europe and has tripinnate leaves of a feathery appearance. The plant rises to a height of some 60 centimetres and produces white flowers. The root is strong-flavoured and tapering. In the wild carrot the root is white, but in the cultivated variety it is orange in colour. Originally the carrot was cultivated as a food for cattle, it is now widely eaten by people. Carrots contain a large proportion of saccharine matter, and attempts were made in the past to extract sugar from them. They have been also employed in distillation: 10 lbs weight of carrots will yield about half a pint of very strong ardent spirit. Research Carrot
Amos Kendall was an American politician. He was born in 1789 Massachusetts and died in 1869. He earnestly supported Andrew Jackson in 1834. In 1829 he was appointed an auditor in the Treasury Department. He was one of the chief men in Andrew Jackson's administration, guiding-the anti-bank policy, and advising and directing the President in all his duties. He was Postmaster-General of the United States from 1835 to 1840 in the Cabinets of Andrew Jackson and Van Buren. He was an ardent anti-slavery advocate and, though a Jackson Democrat, earnestly supported the administration during the American Civil War. Research Amos Kendall
Cadwallader Colden was the first surveyor-general of New York. He was born in 1688 and died in 1776. He was an ardentroyalist, was president of the council in 1760 and Lieutenant-Governor in 1761, took an active part in founding the American Philosophical Society, and was a correspondent of the prominent scientific men of his time, including Linnaeus and Benjamin Franklin. Research Cadwallader Colden
Charles T C Pollen was a German-born American linguist. He was born in 1796 and died in 1840. Born in Germany, he went to America in 1824, and from 1825 to 1834 was professor of German at Harvard College. He was an ardent anti-slavery advocate. Research Charles Pollen
David Brearley was an American patriot and a signatory of the American Constitution. He was born in 1745 and died in 1790. He was an ardent patriot during the pre-Revolutionary movements. He served in the Continental army from 1775 until 1779. he was Chief Justice of New Jersey from 1779 until 1789 when he became a US District Judge. While a member of the Federal Convention of 1787 he zealously opposed the unequal representation of States. Research David Brearley
Felicien-Cesar David was a French musician and composer. He was born in 1810 at Cadenet and died in 1876. He entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1830, and became an ardent disciple of St Simon, Barthelemy Enfantin, and other social speculators. In 1832, with a few companions, he went to the East in order to realize his dreams of a perfect life, but returned disappointed in 1835. He then published his Melodies Orientates, and soon after his most successful work, Le Desert. Other works are: Moise sur le Sinai, Christophe Colombo, Le Paradis, Le Perle du Bresil, Herculaneum, and Lalla Rookh. Research Felicien-Ceasr David
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Abbreviations
Research Gag-Rule
