William Slade / The Gag Rule

William Slade, also, The Gag Rule. 1786–1857, also, 1836–1844. William Slade was one of Vermont’s great public servants and an ardent abolitionist. Born when Vermont was an independent republic, he died just before the Civil War.

A graduate of Middlebury College admitted to the bar in 1810, Slade was a formidable activist opposed to the war with Mexico. He compiled the first Vermont State Papers and Laws of Vermont to 1824. The centerpiece of his career came when he was elected to Congress on the Anti-Masonic ticket in 1831, and was reelected as a Whig. , A strong proponent of public education, Slade advanced a program of education reform during his term as Vermont’s 17th governor. He was corresponding secretary of the Board of National Popular Education, which he co-founded with Catherine Beecher. , The Gag Rule. 1836-1844 In the 1830s, Americans were becoming outspoken about slavery, inundating Congress with abolitionist petitions. Southern legislators believed slavery was protected by the U.S. Constitution and changes to the practice threatened their livelihood. Conflict ensued, pitting northern abolitionists against many members of Congress. , Vermont’s William Slade was at the center of this fight, working with John Quincy Adams, to bring the debate to the House of Representatives. A resolution passed in 1836 instituted a “gag rule,” the first instance of a practice forbidding the House from considering anti-slavery petitions. Repealed in 1844, the gag rule involved acrimonious sectional conflict and anticipated the Civil War in its violent energy.