The War Power

During Adams’ speech, southern members of the House became enraged, as would happen for years to come when Adams or Giddings took up issues touching on slave rebellion. Since Nat Turner’s revolt in 1831, southern lawmakers had counseled vigorously against any public discussion of slave rebellion. Yet here was Adams, speaking on the Congressional record no less, practically making the case for revolt. For those who understood the nature of events in Florida, Adams’ case was not even hypothetical, coming at a time when, as William Lloyd Garrison wrote a friend in May of 1836, Seminole Indians were known to have “ravaged many plantations, killed many inhabitants, and emancipated a considerable number of slaves.”