"Petition of Amos A. Phelps and 31 others, citizens of Boston, Mass. for the rescinding of Res. of December 21," February 14, 1838

National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives

Supporters of the gag rule hoped it would stop the flow of anti-slavery petitions to Congress. Instead, it brought a flood of petitions, many protesting the rule. Petition drives against the gag rule broadened antislavery sentiment in the North because the rule seemed to prove abolitionist claims that a Southern "Slave Power" existed that was not only conspiring to preserve slavery but to deprive all Americans of their liberties. The petition is signed by several well-known abolitionists including Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison.