![John Quincy Adams, who led the effort to repeal the gag rule.[Credits : Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Digital File Number: cph 3a39626)]](http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/97/126397-003-0845A90B.gif)
in U.S. history, any of a series of congressional resolutions that tabled, without discussion, petitions regarding slavery; passed by the House of Representatives between 1836 and 1840 and repealed in 1844. Abolition petitions, signed by more than 2,000,000 persons, had inundated Congress after the establishment of the American Anti-Slavery Society (1833). Gag rules, supported by proslavery congressmen, postponed the consideration, printing, and referral of such petitions. Repeal was secured by a House group led by the former president John Quincy Adams and Joshua R. Giddings.
Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.
If you think a reference to this article on "gag rule" will enhance your Web site,
blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article,
and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.
You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.