* * * * * * * * Where is your law which says that the mean, and the low, and the degraded, shall be deprived of the right of petition, if their moral character is not good?
Where, in the land of freemen, was the right of petition ever placed on the exclusive basis of morality and virtue?
Petition is supplication--it is entreaty--it is prayer! And where is the degree of vice or immorality which shall deprive the citizen of the right to supplicate for a boon, or to pray for mercy?
Where is such a law to be found?
It does not belong to the most abject despotism! There is no absolute monarch on earth, who is not compelled, by the constitution of his country, to receive the petitions of his people, whosoever they may be.

The Sultan of Constantinople cannot walk the streets and refuse to receive petitions from the meanest and vilest of the land.

This is the law even of despotism.

And what does your law say?
Does it say that, before presenting a petition, you shall look into it, and see whether it comes from the virtuous, and the great, and the mighty?
No sir; it says no such thing.
The right of petition belongs to all.

And so far from refusing to present a petition because it might come from those low in the estimation of the world, it would be an additional incentive, if such incentive were wanting.
"But I must admit," continued Mr.Adams, sarcastically, "that when color comes into the question, there may be other considerations.