he Jacksonian era was a period of far-reaching political and social transformations. Property qualifications for voting were repealed, voter participation skyrocketed, and a new two-party political system arose with grassroots support in all parts of the country. It was also a period of unprecedented reform ferment, as reformers struggled to establish public schools, abolish slavery, and expand women's rights. William Lloyd Garrison to Ebenezer Dole, July 14, 1830. GLC 4516 William Lloyd Garrison was the leading proponent of the immediate abolition of slavery without compensation to owners. In this letter, he explains that life under slavery is far worse than the seven weeks he spent in jail for criminal libel after he accused a Baltimore merchant of involvement in the slave trade. John Quincy Adams to the Inhabitants of the 12th Congressional District of Massachusetts, March 3, 1837. GLC 639.05 After the House of Representatives adopted the notorious "gag rule" in 1836, tabling all anti-slavery petitions without discussion, former President John Quincy Adams, now a Congressman, argued that the rule violated the constitutional right to petition government for redress of grievances. Advertising broadside for J.W. Barber, "A History of the Amistad Captives," featuring woodcut, "The Death of Capt. Ferrer," 1840. GLC 4295 In 1839, fifty-two African captives staged a successful rebellion on the Spanish schooner "L'Amistad". Their seizure by a U.S. revenue cutter touched off a legal battle that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the captives had exercised their right to self defense and should be immediately freed.