|
|
People of the Revolutionary War | Patriots of the American Revolution | John Adams |
John Adams Quest for Abolition of Slavery
John Adams Quest for Abolition of Slavery
John Adams
George Caleb Bingham
Oil on canvas, circa 1844
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
As a member of the United States House of Representatives in the 1830s, former President John Quincy Adams
performed some of his noblest service to his country as a staunch and oftentimes courageous spokesman for the
abolition of slavery. Yet he wisely knew and accepted the limitations placed upon him. In October 1837, he addressed
his situation in his diary: I have gone as far upon this article, the abolition of slavery, as the public opinion of
the free portion of the Union will bear, and so far that scarcely a slave-holding member of the House dares to
vote with me upon any question.
At this same time Adams became personally involved in buying the freedom of a slave woman and her two children,
whose fates were in the hands of a notorious Alexandria, Virginia, slave trader named James H. Birch. Toward a
subscription to purchase their freedom, Adams contributed what little he could spare, fifty dollars.
This Alexandria slave pen was the establishment of Price, Birch & Co., dealers in slaves. The occupation
of Alexandria by Union soldiers on May 24, 1861, terminated this business immediately. Many Yankees from the
far North, in the South for the first time, had never before seen an African American. The slave pen became
a curiosity and tourist attraction for thousands of soldiers who passed through Alexandria during the war.
This wartime photograph was taken in August 1863.
Interior of the Alexandria slave pen (above)
The slave pen of Price, Birch & Co. was used during the Union occupation of Alexandria as a jail to detain
drunken and disorderly soldiers. This interior view of the cell blocks illustrates but one vicious aspect of
the slave trade.
Library of Congress
|
|
|
 |
|
|
