A House coalition of Southerners and Northern…

A House coalition of Southerners and Northern Democrats, responding to the thousands of petitions to Congress calling for abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, an end to the slave trade, and refusal of admission to the Union of more slave states, and to prevent debate of the slavery question, secures passage of procedural rules adopted on May 25—26, 1836.

Former president John Quincy Adams, deploring the infringement of the right to petition, leads the opposition to the so-called gag rules.