Notes for Tuesday – February 23, 2016
On February 23, 1840, former President John Quincy Adams began to argue the Amistad case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. A practicing lawyer, member of the House of Representatives, and son of America’s second president who was an avowed abolitionist. Though John Quincy Adams downplayed his abolitionist stance, he also viewed the practice as contrary to the nation’s core principles of freedom and equality. In the arguments, Adams attacked Van Buren’s abuse of executive power. In a dramatic moment, Adams faced the judges, pointed to a copy of the Declaration of Independence hanging on the courtroom wall, and …