e may probably have to put into it, that my
crime has been for attempting to introduce the petition of slaves that
slavery should not be abolished. * * * * * *

"Sir, it is well known, that from the time I entered this House, down to
the present day, I have felt it a sacred duty to present any petition,
couched in respectful language, from any citizen of the United States, be
its object what it may; be the prayer of it that in which I could concur,
or that to which I was utterly opposed. It is for the sacred right of
petition that I have adopted this course. * * * * * * * * Where is your
law which says that the mean, and the low, and the degraded, shall be
deprived of the right of petition, if their moral character is not good?
Where, in the land of freemen, was the right of petition ever placed on
the exclusive basis of morality and virtue? Petition is supplication--it
is entreaty--it is prayer! And where is the degree of vice or immorality
which shall deprive the citizen of the right to supplicate for a boon, or
to pray for mercy? Where is such a law to be found? It does not belong to
the most abject despotism! There is no absolute monarch on earth, who is
not compelled, by the constitution of his country, to receive the
petitions of his people, whosoever they may be. The Sultan of
Constantinople cannot walk the streets and refuse to receive petitions
from the meanest and vilest of the land. This is the law even of
despotism. And what does your law say? Does it say that, before presenting
a petition, you shall look into it, and see whether it comes from the
virtuous, and the great, and the mighty? No sir; it says no such thing.
The right of petition belongs to all. And so far from refusing to present
a petition because it might come from those low in the estimation of the
world, it would be an additional incentive, if such incentive were
wanting.

"But I must admit," continued Mr. Adams, sarcastically, "that when color
comes into the question, there may be other considerations. It is possible
that this house, which seems to consider it so great a crime to attempt to
offer a petition from slaves, may, for aught I know, say that freemen, if
not of the carnation, shall be deprived of the right of petition, in the
sense of the House."

When southern members saw that, in their haste, they had not tarried to
ascertain the nature of the petition, and that it prayed for the
perpetuation, instead of the abolition of slavery,