eed of legal authorization. In his
annual message he made a savage attack upon the abolitionists and
recommended to Congress the "passing of such a law as will prohibit,
under severe penalties, the circulation in the Southern States, through
the mail, of incendiary publications."

This part of the President's message was referred to a select committee,
of which John C. Calhoun was chairman. The chairman's report was against
the adoption of the President's recommendation because a subject of
such vital interest to the States ought not to be left to Congress.
The admission of the right of Congress to decide what is incendiary,
asserted the report, carries with it the power to decide what is
not incendiary and hence Congress might authorize and enforce the
circulation of abolition literature through the mails in all the States.
The States should themselves severally decide what in their judgment is
incendiary, and then it would become the duty of the general Government
to give effect to such state laws. The bill recommended was in harmony
with this view. It was made illegal for any deputy postmaster "to
deliver to any person whatsoever, any pamphlet, newspaper, handbill, or
other printed paper, or pictorial representation touching the subject
of slavery, where by the laws of the said State, territory, or district
their circulation is prohibited." The bill was defeated in the Senate by
a small margin. Altogether there was an enlightening debate on the whole
subject. The exposure of the abuse of tampering with the mail created a
general reaction, which enabled the abolitionists to win a spectacular
victory. Instead of a law forbidding the circulation of anti-slavery
publications, Congress enacted a law requiring postal officials under
heavy penalties to deliver without discrimination all matter committed
to their charge. This act was signed by President Jackson, and Calhoun
himself was induced to admit that the purposes of the abolitionists were
not violent and revolutionary. Henceforth abolitionists enjoyed their
full privileges in the use of the United States mail. An even more
dramatic victory was thrust upon the abolitionists by the inordinate
violence of their opponents in their attack upon the right of petition.
John Quincy Adams, who became their distinguished champion, was not
himself an abolitionist. When, as a member of the lower House of
Congress in 1831, he presented petitions from certain citizens of
Pennsylvani