The Right Of Petition Is

The Proceedings Of This House In 1790, In Reference To Petitions On The Matter Of The Slave Trade, And Of Slavery In The States, Have Been Cited. It Has Been Said That Those Petitions Were Not Received.

It Is Impossible, In My Mind, To Distinguish Between The Refusal To Receive A Petition, Or Its Summary Rejection By Some General Order, And The Denial Of The Right Of Petition.

And If This House Is To Be Scared, By Whatever Influences, From Its Duty, To Receive And Hear The Petitions Of The People, Then I Shall Send My Voice Beyond The Walls Of This Capitol For Redress.

Here, Again, As I Conceive, Gentlemen Forget That This Government Is A Republican One, Resting Exclusively In The Intelligence And Virtue Of The People.

I Maintain That The House Is Bound By The Constitution To Receive The Petitions; After Which, It Will Take Such Method Of Deciding Upon Them As Reason And Principle Shall Dictate.