Here is more Wikipedia information on the White Southerners who
attempted to LIMIT the right of the people to make petitions:
After the beginning of the earnest agitation of the Northern
abolitionists against the institution of slavery about 1831, petitions
of various kinds poured into the United States House of
Representatives and the United States Senate praying for the abolition
or the restriction of that institution. These were generally presented
by John Quincy Adams, who as a member of Congress identified himself
particularly with the struggle against any Congressional abridgment of
the right of petition. It was Adams who ultimately repealed the rule,
by authoring a resolution for repeal, and assembling the coalition
necessary to pass it.
The pro-slavery forces responded with a series of gag rules that
automatically "tabled" all such petitions, preventing them from being
read or discussed. The House passed the Pinckney Resolutions on May
26, 1836, the third of which was known from the beginning as the "gag
rule" and passed with a vote of 117 to 68 (The first stated that
Congress had no constitutional authority to interfere with slavery in
the states and the second that it "ought not" do so in the District of
Columbia.)
From the inception of the gag resolutions, Adams was a central figure
in the opposition to the gag rules. He argued that they were a direct
violation of the First Amendment right "to petition the Government for
a redress of grievances". A majority of Northern Whigs joined the
opposition. Rather than suppress anti-slavery petitions, however, the
gag rules only served to offend Americans from Northern states, and
dramatically increase the number of petitions. The growing offense to
the gag rule, as well as the Panic of 1837, may have contributed to
the first Whig majority, in the 27th Congress.
Since the original gag was a resolution, not a standing House Rule, it
had to be renewed every session, and Adams and others had free rein
until then. In January 1837, the Pinckney Resolutions were
substantially renewed, more than a month into the session. The pro-gag
forces gradually succeeded in shortening the debate and tightening the
gag. In December 1837, the Congress passed the Patton Resolutions,
introduced by John M. Patton of Virginia. In December 1838, the
Congress passed the Atherton Gag, composed by Democratic States-Rights
Congressman Atherton of New Hampshire, on the first petition day of
the session.
In January 1840, the House of Representatives passed the Twenty-first
Rule, which greatly changed the nature of the fight - it prohibited
even the reception of anti-slavery petitions and was a standing House
rule. Before, the pro-slavery forces had to struggle to impose a gag
before the anti-slavery forces got the floor. Now men like Adams or
Slade were trying to revoke a standing rule. However, it had less
support than the original Pinckney gag, passing only by 114 to 108,
with substantial opposition among Northern Democrats and even some
Southern Whigs, and with serious doubts about its constitutionality.
Throughout the gag period, Adams' "superior talent in using and
abusing parliamentary rules" and skill in baiting his enemies into
making mistakes, enabled him to evade the rule. The gag was finally
rescinded December 3, 1844, by a vote of 108-80, all the Northern and
4 Southern Whigs voting for repeal, along with 78% of the Northern
Democrats. It was John Quincy Adams who had successfully assembled the
coalition that approved his resolution to repeal the rule.
In the Senate in 1836, John C. Calhoun attempted to introduce a gag
rule. The Senate rejected this proposal, but agreed on a method which,
while technically not violating the right to petition, would achieve
the same effect. If an anti-slavery petition was presented, the Senate
would vote not on whether to accept the petition but on whether to
consider the question of receiving the petition.
