![Item #346520 Slavery in the District of Columbia ... [caption title]. Slavery.](https://jamescumminsbookseller.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/346520.jpg?width=768&height=1000&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1667328891)
The Gag Rule
Slavery in the District of Columbia ... [caption title].
Washington, D.C: May 18, 1836.
Price: $200.00
About the item
24th Congress, 1st Session, House Rep. No. 691. 24pp. 8vo. The Gag Rule. Disbound.
Item #346520
Many of the early anti-slavery efforts focussed on the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, as Congress had full control over the laws within the District thus obviating any argument over state's rights. Until "retroceded" back to Virginia in 1846, the city of Alexandria, and its notorious slave market, was considered part of the District of Columbia, making slavery in the District of particular importance. Inundated with petitions calling for the abolition of slavery in the District, in 1836 Congress passed the so-called Pinckney Resolution which asserted that Congress "ought not" to consider slavery in the District and created a gag rule whereby all petitions, memorials or other resolutions on the subject would be automatically tabled.
