You have recently seen him stand as unmoved as the rock of Gibraltar, defending the right of petition, and the constitutional privileges of the representatives of the people, assembled in Congress, though fiercely assailed by friends and by foes.
Quincy commends Adams for his steadfast defense of constitutional rights amidst political opposition.
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They have transmitted that freedom to you; and upon you now devolves the duty of transmitting it unimpaired to your posterity.
Though conscious, being then in his seventy-eighth year, that he stood on the threshold of human life, he sought no relaxation from duty, no exemption from its performance.
Adams replied: "I have no hesitation to say I hold that act unconstitutional and void.
His spirit of liberty was fostered and inspired by the writings of Milton, Sydney, and Locke, of which the American Declaration of Independence was an emanation, and the constitution of the United States, with the exception of the clauses…
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