Distractions

Under the guise of discussing the war, Adams found that he could actually argue about the forbidden topic of slavery. His rhetoric caused a monumental stir in Congress. In 1836, his words on the war agitated colleagues to the brink of violence. In his most daring foray, Adams asserted a seemingly simple legal theory that wildly provoked the southern representatives. Adams claimed that under war powers, the Army could liberate slaves in rebellion, such as the Black Seminoles in Florida. This idea shook the South to its core. Congress severely rebuked the representative from Massachusetts, but his idea gained a life of its own. It would surface again in the life of the Black Seminoles, and ultimately in one of the great moments of American history, the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.*