With all the ardor and zeal of youth, he placed himself in the front rank of the battle which ensued, plunged into the very midst of the melee, and, with a dauntless courage, that won the plaudits of the world, held aloft the banner of freedom in the Halls of Congress, when other hearts quailed and fell back! He led "the forlorn hope" to the assault of the bulwarks of slavery, when the most sanguine believed his almost superhuman labors would be all in vain.

In these contests a spirit blazed out from his noble soul which electrified the nation with admiration.

In his intrepid bearing amid these scenes he fully personified the couplet quoted in one of his orations:-- "Thy spirit, Independence, let me share, Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye! Thy steps I follow, with my bosom bare, Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky." The first act in the career of Mr.Adams as a Member of Congress, was in relation to slavery.

On the 12th of December, 1831, it being the second week of the first session of the twenty-second Congress, he presented fifteen petitions, all numerously signed, from sundry inhabitants of Pennsylvania, praying for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia.

In presenting these petitions, Mr.Adams remarked, that although the petitioners were not of his immediate constituents, yet he did not deem himself at liberty to decline presenting their petitions, the transmission of which to him manifested a confidence in him for which he was bound to be grateful.