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
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Abbreviations
Research Gag-Rule
