All language subtitles for The Adams Chronicles s01e10 Congressman

Four generations of one family.

Their lives and causes reveal 150 years
of American history.

What is the proper role for an ex
-president of the United States?

John Quincy Adams, lately sixth
president, ponders the question at the

home in Quincy, Massachusetts.

It is one on which he and his third son,
Charles Francis, disagree.

This is what you should be doing.

writing the history of the family,
vindicating grandfather.

Instead, you run back to politics at the
first opportunity.

I have not said I would run. There was
simply an anonymous paragraph suggesting

it in the Boston Daily Courier. They
just want you out of the way when Henry

Clay runs for president.

I shall not run unless the people act
spontaneously.

I used to ask your advice about my own
future, Father.

And you always said...

Confine your attention to such business
as you have.

This room is your business.

These papers are your business. This
family, father.

But my own district, Charles.

My own district is my business as much
as my family. Only 2 ,000 people.

There are 2 ,500 eligible voters in the
Plymouth district.

You who have been president of the
entire United States. But not elected by

people.

A man. cannot be degraded by serving the
people as a representative in Congress.

Your mind is made up. No, it is not.

Age and infirmity have its privileges.

I am not well.

I have not the slightest desire to be
elected to Congress.

It is too much to ask, Mr. Adams.

That I return to public life and renew
all the mortification and the agony.

But I have been chosen, Louisa. Oh, to
gratify your insatiable passion for

public office. I did not seek it. I did
nothing.

I was chosen. You consented to run.

Only after being nominated.

I didn't work for it. The work was done
by 1 ,817 voters from

22 towns, Louisa.

Three -fourths of the total vote.

The majority is undeniable.

Oh, no election, no appointment
conferred upon me has ever given me half

pleasure.

I can't expect him to want to vote.

What of your health?

You no longer have the protection of
executive office, you know.

Old enemies, old wounds, old scores to
settle. Can you physically bear it? My

condition has remarkably improved since
reading today's newspaper.

Besides, I'm thinking of the $8 per day
I shall receive for each session of

Congress. Is $8 a day that important?

Plus 40 cents per mile travel allowance.

Don't forget that.

Mr. Adams, it will not be so very
difficult for me.

I promise.

In truth, it will revive me to be back
in Washington, away from this climate

Quincy.

It was kind of you to come tonight, Mr.
Adams.

I know you are preparing to leave for
Washington.

I understand, Monsieur de Tocqueville,
that you are in this country making an

official study of penology.

Mr. Everett said you expressly wanted to
meet me. I couldn't imagine why.

I had to come and find out.

Of penology, yes, but of democracy also.

What is it you wish to ask me?

Do you regard slavery as a great evil
for the United States?

Yes, unquestionably.

It's in slavery that are to be found
almost all of the embarrassments of the

present.

And fears of the future.

Is the number of slaves increasing?

Why have you chosen to ask me these
things?

You are in a nationally conspicuous
position.

There are others far more conspicuous.

Why are you surprised that I should ask
you about slavery?

Because I've never spoken publicly on
the subject.

Perhaps that is the reason.

And is that the reason I'm being asked
to present anti -slavery petitions to

Congress weeks before I've taken my
seat?

Will you?

Oh, yes.

I will present the petitions.

That doesn't mean I will support them or
recommend any action.

That is in keeping with your stand in
the past of not taking a stand.

But do I sense in your silence an inner
abhorrence to the practice of slavery?

That may well be.

All 15 of these petitions make the same
two pleas, that of the

abolition of the slave trade and of
slavery itself.

In the District of Columbia, I don't
intend to read all 15.

Not so much out of consideration for...

my fellow members of the House, but
because I am not yet used to the sound

own voice in this chamber, I move

that these petitions be referred to the
Committee on the District of Columbia

with instructions to report the
expediency of prohibiting the slave

in the District of Columbia.

Are we to infer that the...

A gentleman from Massachusetts does not
instruct the committee to consider the

plea for abolition of slavery itself.

I don't trust my own voice after such
long disuse.

I have said enough in my first speech
before this august assemblage.

I am grateful for the privilege.

Mr. Pinkney.

Three.

All petitions, memorials, resolutions,
propositions, or papers relating in any

way or to any extent whatsoever to the
subject of slavery or the abolition of

slavery shall be tabled and that no
further action whatever shall be taken.

The gentleman from Massachusetts has
brought such a resolution upon himself

his incessant introduction of such
petitions into this house. I hold this

resolution to be in direct violation of
the Constitution of the United States,

to the rules of this house, and to the
rights of my constituents.

Congress has no constitutional power to
interfere in any way with slavery in any

of the states.

And it should not interfere in any way
with slavery in the District of

Yes, yes.

Gentlemen.

Gentlemen.

There seems to be some feeling that I am
attempting to introduce the subject of

abolition into the house.

It is true that some petitioners keenly

aggrieved. by the existence of slavery
in a part of the country over which

Congress possesses exclusive
jurisdiction in all matters whatsoever,

do seek its abolition in the District of
Columbia. Mr.

Speaker, I rise to a point of order.

And to declare every human being free
that steps foot on its soil.

Mr. Adams.

But, but, gentlemen,

there was, for example, a petition

from a group of slaves, which I was not
permitted to read because it was from

slaves, and which I do not intend to
read, but which was

actually a prayer.

against abolition.

What does he mean?

Slaves were afraid of losing their
bondage.

They pleaded for the continuance of the
institution of slavery.

They desired to serve their masters for
as long as life will permit.

Now, since I endeavored to introduce
that petition along with all the

others, It cannot be said that I am
taking up the cause of abolition on this

floor.

I am not objecting to Mr.

Pinckney's resolution because it impedes
the progress of abolition.

I am objecting to it because it
interferes with the rights of my

to petition.

Mr. Adams.

Take your seat.

We will now proceed with the vote.

Will all those in favor of Mr.
Pinckney's resolution signify by raising

right hand?

It was the wretched mills that killed
John.

They have eaten into this family like
gangrene.

That is not my own bitterness speaking.
The word gangrene is your father's

epithet.

John would not give up, even in
suffering and acute pain.

We begged him to leave Washington and
rest at Quincy. Even your father begged

him. As you see, I forced myself to give
your father every consideration. He...

Claude John to leave the mills.

But John was an Adams.

He persevered in his duty until he
killed him.

You must try not to blame father.

And now there's still $30 ,000 owing on
his son's grave.

For that is what the mills have become.

John's grave.

And herein lies the young, the
beautiful.

The wires. You must go forward, Aunt
Louisa. How can I when life itself does

go forward, only backward? It repeats
itself.

John's death.

George's.

Mother?

If time is not going backwards, then
what are we doing in this house?

We left it forever when we went to the
president's mansion. That was to be the

end of this house.

After the president's mansion, we were
to go...

I don't know where. All I know is that
time has gone backwards and we've

returned to this house.

Did you know this house is mortgaged?

Yes, Mother.

And do you know why?

To buy the Columbia Mills.

To buy my son's grave.

We're mortgaged souls in a mortgaged
house.

I must go, Mother.

Of course you must.

That's it, boss.

Thank you, my dear, for coming.

Will you be all right?

Mary's with me. And my grandchildren.

As long as they're in this house, I'm
all right.

And your father here.

Charles.

Even though I must watch his strength
and health ebb away.

Even though I must sacrifice my sons.

Even then, I am forced to admit that he
is right.

Goodbye, Mother.

In the mutiny of the slaves which took
place off Cuba, the captain of the ship

Armistead was murdered, as was the cook.

The Negro mutineers spared the lives of
their Spanish owners, on condition that

they steer the ship eastward in the
direction of Africa.

This the two Spaniards did by day, but
by night they turned the ship westward

toward the United States.

Eventually they found themselves in Long
Island Sound.

where the slaves were taken into
custody. Mr. Adams, I... Oh, forgive me,

Tappan. Forgive me. I have been in
correspondence with Mr. James H. Hackett

regarding Shakespeare's Tragedy of
Hamlet. And this is a lithographic copy

of my letter.

Send it to me, Mr.

Hackett. Examine it, Mr. Tappan. I came
here to discuss the plight of the

Armistead survivors.

It is so perfect a facsimile.

That if it had been presented to me as
the original, I should have acknowledged

it without an instant of hesitation as
my own.

Mr.

Adams. Mr. Hackett says that he had the
copy taken because he had lent the

original to so many of his friends and
acquaintances that it had been nearly

used up.

You use the word slaves, Mr. Tappan.

I beg your pardon.

in referring to the Negroes on the
Amistad.

He used the word slaves.

The men were not, in fact, slaves, if I
understand it. They had been kidnapped

from Africa, taken to Cuba, where they
were sold in the slave market.

Which was illegal, according to all
existing treaties.

Quite correct.

Therefore, the two Spaniards were not
their owners.

Another word you used.

I was trying to convey the position of
the Spanish minister.

Who claimed that the Negroes should be
returned to their owners as shipwrecked

property. That is Spain's position.

The lower courts have ruled against
them. Now they have appealed to the

Court of the United States.

That is why I've come to you, Mr. Adams
Frail.

Well, it seems more than likely that the
Supreme Court will simply affirm the

rulings of the lower courts.

The Spaniards have added ammunition.

They now demand the return of the
Africans to Havana, Cuba, to be tried

Spanish law.

The Supreme Court may feel compelled to
reverse all previous rulings.

We cannot allow that to happen, Mr.
Adams.

Is this another of your attempts to
enlist me openly in the cause of

Mr. Tappan?

You profess indifference to the fate of
the Armistead survivors, but I've seen a

letter in your hand expressing hope.

that no grand jury of free men could be
found to indict the Africans for

vindicating their own liberty against
slave traders and pirates.

I believe you refer to a letter I wrote
to Mr. William Jay.

I do, sir.

That was a private letter.

You needn't fear, Mr. Adams.

He has had no lithographic copies made.

Well, we know how the Spaniards have
been occupying their time.

What of the Negroes?

They are in the New Haven County Jail.

And you want me to represent them in the
Supreme Court of the United States?

This is a case of life and death for
these unfortunate men.

I'm an old man.

Your age is a matter of public record.

You'll admit that I'm an old man.

Old man eloquent.

That's what they call you.

I think I wanted you to tell me that.

Vanity. Mr.

Haggart actually wants my opinions on
the tragedy of Othello.

That extension of my fame is more
tickling to my vanity than it was to be

President of the United States.

And you too, Mr. Tappan.

You are appealing to my vanity.

Good morning, sir.

Are you still here?

Or have you gone away and come back?

Mr. Baldwin and Professor Gibbs are
waiting to give you breakfast in the

dining room.

Did you rest well, sir?

I didn't rest at all.

I have been reading.

You should have rested.

You've had a long train ride and
practically in the middle of the night.

When you have lived as long as I have
with no trains at all, two and one half

hours from Hartford to New Haven, is
expeditious to the point of being

egregious.

I feel I am as wrongfully put here as
you are.

Shouldn't you be in class?

It's after nine o 'clock.

If you will forgive me, sir, escorting
Mr. John Quincy Adams through the lobby

of the Tontine Hotel is far more
instructional than any course offered in

curriculum of Yale College.

It was good of you to meet me at the
railroad station.

and more than kind to bring me to my
hotel, but I am quite all right now, I

assure you. The life of Mr. John Quincy
Adams must be spared to his country to

carry on the struggle for free men.

You think I might not reach the dining
room?

I did not know until this morning, sir,
that there had been threats on your

life. I heard a man in the lobby say
that you had deserted the abolitionist

cause under threats of assassination.

Well, when did I do that?

When you asserted in the House of
Representatives that abolition could

effected through constitutional
amendment.

There were threats of assassination.

But that is not the reason I said it.

I said it because I believe it. The man
in the lobby threatened to make away

with you if you said anything further
that sounded like a denunciation of

abolitionism.

Yes, well, in the South, they threatened
me for doing too much. And in the

North, they threatened me for doing too
little.

Oh, very well, young man.

I accept your protection.

Suppose a white man from Algiers escaped
ashore in the United States and his

dark -skinned Algerian owners demanded
his return because by the laws of

Algiers, white men may be treated as
property.

No court in the United States, no court
in all of Christendom would entertain

such a claim.

And when we find them here from the
coast of Africa, the same rule must

the black as to the white.

I have read your admirable brief, Mr.
Baldwin.

When did you find the time?

You've only just arrived at 8 o 'clock
this morning.

It's been the routine of my life to do
the bulk of my reading before breakfast.

And an excellent breakfast, too.

You make me a little ashamed I wasn't
able to meet your train.

I was well met.

Will I be able to communicate with the
Africans?

Professor Gibbs?

Oh, yes.

By visiting them every day, I was able
to learn the word sounds for the first

ten numerals. Then, by haunting the
waterfront here in New Haven and talking

African seamen, I was able to learn that
they were members of the Mendi tribe.

And at last, I found an interpreter.

Professor Gibbs has been compiling a
dictionary of their language and

them English.

Their leader, Senkwe, is even able to
read aloud from the New Testament.

Well, gentlemen.

If you are ready.

Wouldn't you like to rest after your
meal, Mr. Adams? It's a two -mile ride.

Once I start on my day, Mr. Baldwin, it
is better not to stop.

Then let me help you.

Oh, no, no, no, no.

For they shall be called the children of
God.

Blessed are they which are

persecuted for righteousness' sake.

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Does he understand what he just read?

Dear Mr. Adams, peacemaker.

He understands that much, sir.

What did he say?

Your hands are shaking. He wishes to
know if you too find the New England

too cold.

Tell him it is the winter of life that
affects me. He would not understand

sir.

Carly, you may speak.

Is there something you wish to say to
Mr. Evans?

Dear friend, Mr.

Adams, you.

have children and friends you love them
you feel very

sorry if mendy take all to africa ship
cook

say he kill he eat mendy we afraid

we kill ship cook we never kill captain

but he want to kill us

You love us.

You talk to the American court, the
great court, and tell the

American people, make us free.

Dear friend, Mr.

Adams, we love you very much.

Thank you.

Do they understand the expression, thank
you?

I think so, they just don't hear it very
often

May I lock up?

There will be a messenger from the
British minister.

At this late hour?

The British minister wishes to know what
Her Majesty's government can do on

behalf of the captured Africans.

What can anyone do?

Didn't you say the decision of the
Supreme Court would be against them?

invoke the Treaty of Ghent, Article 10.

Whereas... The traffic of slaves is
irreconcilable with the principles of

humanity and justice.

And whereas both His Majesty and the
United States are desirous of continuing

their efforts to promote its entire
abolition...

Entire abolition.

The British minister must have this.

Before the trial begins in the morning.

I'll let you know when the messenger
arrives.

Am I the last of your charges to be
awake, Mary?

Aunt Louisa is resting quietly.

So is Mary Louisa.

Is your Aunt Louisa in correspondence
with Charles?

Oh, yes.

Charles is most proud to have been
elected to the state legislature and by

a large majority.

He was so afraid that I might embarrass
him in his new political career.

I think he does feel easier now that
he's been elected.

Oh, there's still time.

I might embarrass him yet.

I am very clear as to what the British
minister should do.

Would I were half so clear as to what I
myself should do.

I find myself arranging, rearranging
documents with no clear frame for my

argument. Then you must extemporize.

That is what you have become known for.

Yes, and quite a contradiction in my
character.

After an entire political career,
planning every move, every word, to

find myself embarked on a second
political career, not knowing what I'm

say next.

Extemporize. Mr. Adams, will your
presence in the Supreme Court interfere

the presentation of further petitions in
the House of Representatives?

Only insofar as I am unable to be in two
places at one time. I have a petition

here from 45 citizens of Haverhill,
Massachusetts, sir.

Your own state, sir.

These are the skeleton, my argument.

I confess I haven't put it all together.

So bewildered, Mr. Baldwin, as to leave
me nothing but fervent prayer that

presence of mind may not badly fail me.

Well, look what room's full.

Not many ladies.

One of the judges of this court, Philip
B. Barber, is dead.

He sat with us in consultation last
evening until 10 o 'clock when we parted

from him in remarkably cheerful good
humor.

He appears to have passed from sleep to
death without a moment of conscious

suffering.

The court will adjourn until Monday
morning.

15 years younger than I.

In what respect were these slaves, if
indeed they were slaves under Spanish

released from slavery by acts of
aggression against their owners any more

slave becomes free in Pennsylvania who
forcibly escapes from Virginia?

If the Africans were slaves by the laws
of Spain, now that is the very issue.

The structure...

of my argument will be perfectly clear
and comprehensible, needing no

division between distinct points, but
admitting to the steady and

undeviating pursuit of one fundamental
principle, the administration

of justice.

I am aware that justice is always the
duty of the court.

But in this case, I must invite special
attention to justice because an

immense array of power, the executive
administration instigated by a minister

from a foreign country, has been brought
to bear on the side of injustice.

I shall commence with the review of the
correspondence.

Where is the correspondence?

The correspondence between the Secretary
of State and the Spanish Ministers

Calderon and Arguez. Mr. Adams, it is 3
.30.

To give your argument continuity and as
you request justice, we will postpone

further hearing of it until tomorrow
morning.

The court is adjourned.

unfortunate circumstance, Mr. Adams.

I know what the waiting and delay have
already cost you.

Time is a gift, not an expense.

I shall use it.

I have found my skeleton, Mr. Baldwin.

All these books, all these papers, all
these learned thoughts and opinions,

all come down to one word.

Justice.

May it please your honors.

On the 7th of February, 1804, now more
than

37 years past, my name was entered and
yet stands recorded

on both the rolls as one of the
attorneys and counselors of this court.

Very shortly afterwards, I was sent to
the dispatch of other duties.

First in distant lands and in later
years within our own country, but in

different parts of her government.

Little did I imagine that I would ever
again be required to

claim the right to act in the capacity
of an officer of this court.

But such has been the...

dictate my destiny.

And I appear again to plead

the cause of justice and now of liberty

and life in behalf of many of my fellow
men.

And before the same court.

But not before the same judges.

Nor aided by the same associates.

Nor resisted by the same opponents.

As I cast my eyes along these seats of
honor and public trust

now occupied by you.

They seek in vain for one of those
honored and honorable persons whose

indulgence... Listen then to my voice.

Marshall.

Cushing.

Chase.

Washington.

Johnson.

Livingston.

are they alas where is one of the very

judges of this court before whom I
commenced this anxious argument even now

prematurely closed

Gone from the services which in their
day and generation they faithfully

rendered to their country.

Gone to receive the rewards of
blessedness on high.

In taking, then, my final leave of this
bar and of this

honorable court.

I can only offer a fervent petition to
heaven that every member

of it may go to his final account with
as little of earthly

frailty to answer for as those
illustrious dead.

And that you may, every one, after the
close of a long

and virtuous career in this world be
received at the portals of the next with

the approving sentence well done

good and faithful servant

enter thou

Mr. Baldwin writes again from New Haven.

Glorious, he says.

Glorious not only as a triumph of
humanity and justice, but as a

our national character from reproach and
dishonor.

Still nothing from Mr. Tappan. Oh, yes,
yes, finally.

Mr. Tappan sends an expression of thanks
for valuable services gratuitously

rendered in rescuing the lives and
liberties of our humble clients.

He is very formal.

I think he's been waiting for me to send
him a bill.

Since I have not done so, he is too
moved to be less formal.

Perhaps now that this greatest ordeal is
past, you will give us peace by finding

it yourself.

Mr. Tappan beseeches me to be not weary
in well -doing. Yes, well, to come out

openly and join the cause of God and man
to let the world... see that I favor

the great objects of anti -slavery,
petitions, as well as the right of

itself.

Yes, well, there's nothing more I can
do.

My drowsy brain.

My faculties falling from me, one by
one, the teeth dropping from my head.

Then may God grant us peace and quiet.

There is an alliance between southern
slave traders and northern Democrats to

stop me.

But I shall proceed until slave traders,
slave holders,

slave breeders quail and howl.

I see where the shoe pinches.

It will pinch more yet.

I shall deal out a diet that the
gentleman will find hard to digest.

I demand, Mr. Speaker, that you put him
down.

Mr. Adams.

I promised yesterday to deliver some
petitions that would set them ablaze.

I shall now proceed to do so.

From the citizens of Haverhill,
Massachusetts. I demand that

you shut the mouth of that old
harlequin.

A petition to dissolve the union.

A petition from Benjamin Emerson and 45

other citizens of Haverhill,
Massachusetts, praying that Congress

adopt measures to dissolve the union of
these states.

representative of mass... First, because
no union can be agreeable or permanent

which does not present prospects of
reciprocal benefits.

Second, because a vast proportion of the
resources of one section of the union

is annually drained to sustain the views
and costs of another section without

adequate return.

Third, Mr.

Speaker, The madman from Massachusetts
is still on the rampage.

Even his staunchest opponents never
dreamed he would go so far as to present

petition for the dissolution of the
Union.

I move that this document be referred to
a select committee with instructions to

provide an answer to the petitioners
explaining why their prayer ought not to

granted. Would it be in order to burn
the petition in the presence of the

I move that the petition be laid on the
table and printed, that the country may

know and understand what its character
is. Mr. Speaker, is it in order to move

to censure any member presenting such a
petition?

Good! I move we adjourn. I'm begging the
motion for adjournment. I hope the

House does not adjourn. If there is to
be a vote of censure, the House might as

well settle it now as adjourned.

Resolved.

that in presenting to the consideration
of this house a petition for the

dissolution of the union, the member
from Massachusetts has justly incurred

censure of this house.

Mr. Speaker, is such a motion in order?

I do not feel at liberty to arrest the
proceeding.

Resolve, therefore, that the Honorable
John Q. Adams has offered the deepest

indignity to the house in which he is a
member, and hence so.

to the people of the United States and
will, if this outrage be permitted to

pass unrebuked and unpunished, have
disgraced his country through their

representatives in the eyes of the whole
world.

Resolve further that the aforesaid John
Q. Adams might well be held to merit

expulsion from the national councils and
the House deem it an act of grace

and mercy.

when they only inflict upon him their
severe censure for conduct so utterly

unworthy of his past relations to the
state and his present position.

This they hereby do for the maintenance
of their own purity and dignity.

Now may I accompany my remarks with a...
May I

accompany my resolution with a few
remarks?

Certainly, certainly.

You may, Mr. Marshall.

I'm aware to what I expose myself when I
submit these resolutions, but the

gentleman from Massachusetts has done
nothing less than invite members of this

house to commit high treason when he
submitted a petition

for the dissolution of the union.

Sir.

What is high treason?

The Constitution of the United States
says what high treason is.

It is not for the gentleman from
Kentucky or his puny mind to define what

treason is and confound it with what I
have done.

Now, understand, I have nothing but the
warmest personal feelings for Mr.

Marshall. I respect his talents.

I hope he succeeds in rescuing himself
with the help of his friends from the

vice of drunkenness.

But where did he learn his law?

If there is a principle sacred on earth
and established by the Declaration

of Independence, it is the right of the
people to alter, to change,

to destroy the government.

if it becomes oppressive to them.

I rest the petition of the 45 citizens
of Haverhill, Massachusetts, on the

Declaration of Independence.

I can say, and I do say, that it is not

yet time to do this.

are the means to be tried.

I say if the petition is referred and
answered, it will satisfy the

petitioners. They will see that there
are other measures to be pursued.

And the first of all is to restore the
right of petition. Mr. Speaker,

is the gentleman from Massachusetts to
be allowed to continue?

There is a resolution before this house.

If it is the intention of the house to
proceed, then I must submit.

Was there ever a time that to a man on
whom such

charges have been brought of a sudden
and totally unexpected, no time given

for his defense?

There is a plaintive tone in Mr. Adams'
voice.

Perhaps considering his age. Give up!

I am ready for another hate.

I challenge my accusers to come on
against me.

If they say they will try me, they must
try me.

If they say they will punish me, they
must punish me.

If they say that out of grace and mercy,
they will spare me expulsion,

I disdain and cast their mercy away.

I ask them if they will come to such a
trial and expel me.

I defy them.

If you wish, Mr. Adams, you can submit a
motion for further time for your

defense.

To open my defense, I ask the clerk to
read the Declaration of Independence.

Oh, no.

When in the course of human events, it

becomes necessary... Mr. Speaker!

and to assume among the powers of the
earth the separate and equal station to

which the laws of nature and of nature's
God entitle them, a decent respect to

the opinions of mankind requires that
nature declare the causes which impel

to do so. In the twelve days that I have
been standing here before you facing

Mr. Gilmer and Mr.

Marshall and my other opponents, the
House cannot be unaware of the interest,

These proceedings have excited
throughout the State of the Union.

The letters that are pouring in against
this attempt to silence me,

the newspapers that have risen up in
arms and proclaimed mine a definitive

case for constitutional rights.

On this twelfth day of my ordeal, Mr.

Gilmer, Mr. Marshall, have offered to
withdraw their

resolution of censure if I would
withdraw the petition from the 45

citizens of Haverhill, Massachusetts.

My answer to that is no.

No!

That I cannot do.

If I were to withdraw the petition, I
would feel myself as having sacrificed

the right of petition, as having
sacrificed the right of habeas corpus,

of having sacrificed the right of trial
by jury, of having sacrificed the

sacred confidence of the post office, as
having sacrificed the freedom of the

press, as having sacrificed the freedom
of speech.

as having sacrificed every element of
liberty now enjoyed by my fellow

If I were to prove craven to my trust
under intimidation

of these charges, never more would the
House see a petition of the people

of the Union expressing their
grievances.

There is the deadly character of this
attempt to put me down.

But if I continue, it will take me at
least one more week to complete my

defense.

Mr.

Speaker?

Therefore, since Mr.

Gilmer and Mr. Marshall...

will not withdraw their resolution of
censure, and I certainly won't withdraw

petition.

If, however, the House is ready to lay
the whole matter of my

censure on the table forever, then I
will

acquiesce in that decision.

Mr. Speaker, I move the whole matter of
censure be laid on the table forever.

Second the motion. It is with relief
that we hear the motion of the gentleman

from Virginia to lay the matter of
censure on the table and the generous

acquiescence of the gentleman from
Massachusetts. It is not generosity at

Mr. Speaker. I am simply determined not
to be responsible for one hour of time

unnecessarily consumed on this subject.

Especially since...

At the end of the vote, I have 200
accumulated petitions which I propose to

present to this House.

Mr.

Speaker! Mr.

Speaker!

Yes, Mr.

Speaker, there is a resolution...

Oh, Mr. Adams.

Always the first to take your seat.

Or do you never go home?

There is to be a resolution on the floor
this morning tendering the thanks of

Congress to generals of the late Mexican
campaign.

Thanks?

I'm going to be here in plenty of time
to vote against it.

Do you never sleep?

No, sir. I am deceased.

At your young age.

I'm 80.

Yes, and indestructible.

See how well you came through your
stroke last year?

I didn't come through it at all.

I date my decease from that hour.

So do you.

So does everyone else.

They'd conduct me to my seat, given the
chance.

Which is why I get here early.

To love with them.

They don't attack me anymore. They think
they're being kind and respectful.

when they refuse to bait me.

I'm good for nothing but autographing
verse.

Verse, Mr. Adams?

How many times have you entered this
hall, Mr. Fisher?

I don't know.

Hundreds, I suppose.

Have you ever looked, really looked, at
the muse of history over the front door?

But perched in her car?

Yes, of course I have. She has both
wheels and wings.

Muse, quit thy car, come down upon the
floor, and with thee bring that volume

thy hand.

Wrap with thy marble knuckle at the
door, and take at a reporter's desk thy

stand. Send round thy album and collect
a store of autographs from rulers of the

land.

Invite each Solan to inscribe his name.

a self -recorded candidate for fame.

which prompted this band of heroes to
press forward into the heart of the

enemy's country, overcoming every
obstacle, scattering the armies of

Mr. Speaker!

Mr.

Adams is dying!

Forgive me, Mrs. Adams.

I cannot believe the message I received
is correct.

I should not be here.

Thank you for coming, Mr. Clay. Mr.

Adams asked to see you.

my things to the offices of

the house.

This is the end.