John Quincy Adams

Following his distinguished political career as an ambassador, senator, secretary of state, and U.S. president, John Quincy Adams represented the state of Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1831 until his death in 1848. As a congressman, Adams became a forceful voice against slavery and a powerful opponent of politi-cians angling to create new slave states in the West. He opposed the Mexican-American War (1846–48), correctly predicting it would become “a war for slavery,” and repeatedly defied a gag rule against presenting antislavery petitions to the House.

In 1841, Adams successfully argued before the Supreme Court that African prisoners who had rebelled against their captors on the slave ship Amistad were deserving of freedom. During his two-day argument, Adams repeatedly directed the justices’ attention to copies of the Declaration of Independence displayed in the courtroom, asserting “I ask nothing more in [sic] behalf of these unfortunate men, Than this Declaration."