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A Defence of the Constitutions of Government

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A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America” by John AdamsGet a FREE copy of “A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America” by John Adams

John Adams wrote and published “A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America” in three volumes.  The American edition was published the same year in New York and Philadelphia.  The work occurs in the middle of his career and reflects the depth of thought that our founders engaged in while building a new country.

A Defence of the Constitutions of Government was stimulated by the writings of Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, the Abbé De Mably, and Dr. Richard Price.  The books are organized in letters so that Adams could address diverse topics and historical periods while relating them to the argument before him.

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The Character Of John Adams

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The Character Of John Adams Book CoverGet a FREE copy of “The Character Of John Adams” by Samuel Willard M.D.

John Adams, the second president of the United States, had the peculiar fortune of being for a while, one of the most honored citizens of the country, entrusted with most important offices and appointments, and rendering services which were recognized as of vital importance to his native land; and then had the misfortune of retiring into private life under a load of calumny which made his name a byword of contempt.

John Adams’s remains were buried in a tomb under the portico of the First Congregational Church of Quincy. In the body of the church, by the side of the pulpit, at the preacher’s right,” is a marble tablet, seven feet by four, on which is chiseled a memorial of the statesman and of his wife.

It is surmounted by Greenough’s bust of the ex-president. Under that the first line is his favorite motto, —Liberty, friendship, faith, thou wilt hold fast. Overlooking his personal defects, the judgment of the ages will pronounce him in service to his country second only to Washington.

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The Letters of John and Abigail Adams

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"The Letters of John and Abigail Adams" by Charles Francis Adams Book CoverGet a FREE Copy of “The Letters of John and Abigail Adams” by Charles Francis Adams

“The Letters of John and Abigail Adams” provides an insightful record of American life before, during, and after the Revolution; the letters also reveal the intellectually and emotionally fulfilling relationship between John and Abigail that lasted fifty-four years and withstood historical upheavals, long periods apart, and personal tragedies.

Covering key moments in American history-the Continental Congress, the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, and John Adams’s diplomatic missions to Europe-the letters reveal the concerns of a couple living during a period of explosive change, from smallpox and British warships to raising children, paying taxes, the state of women, and the emerging concepts of American democracy.

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A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law by John Adams

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The passage of the Stamp Act in 1765 provoked a response from Adams and In August of that year he anonymously contributed four articles to the Boston Gazette (republished in The London Chronicle in 1768 as True Sentiments of America, also known as A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law).

In A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law Adams explained that the opposition of the colonies to the Stamps Act was because the act  deprived the American colonists of two basic rights guaranteed to all Englishmen, and which all free men deserved: rights to be taxed only by consent and to be tried only by a jury of one’s peers. Adams believed strongly in natural rights, that is, those rights that are inalienable or unchangeable.

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The Novanglus Essays by John Adams

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Novanglus, meaning “New Englander,” is the pseudonym used by John Adams in 1774 and 1775 for a series of letters he published in the Boston Gazette just prior to the start of the armed conflict in America. An answer to the Massachusettensis essays, Adams laid out the American position on the natural rights of individual Americans and the rights enjoyed by all colonial governments under British law.

From Novanglus #3 – “The nature of the encroachment upon the American constitution is such, as to grow every day more and more encroaching. Like a cancer, it eats faster and faster every hour. The revenue creates pensioners, and the pensioners urge for more revenue.

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John Adams, Letter to Abigail Adams, April 15 1776

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John AdamsI send you every News Paper, that comes out, and I send you now and then a few sheets of Paper but this Article is as scarce here, as with you. I would send a Quire, if I could get a Conveyance. I write you, now and then a Line, as often as I can, but I can tell you no News, but what I send in the public Papers.

We are Waiting it is said for Commissioners, a Messiah that will never come. — This Story of Commissioners is as arrant an Illusion as ever was hatched in the Brain of an Enthusiast, a Politician, or a Maniac. I have laugh’d at it — scolded at it — griev’d at it — and I dont know but I may at an unguarded Moment have rip’d at it — but it is vain to Reason against such Delusions. I was very sorry to see in a Letter from the General that he had been bubbled with it, and still more to see in a Letter from my sagacious Friend [Warren] at Plymouth, that he was taken in too.

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John Adams, Letter to Jonathan Jackson, October 1780.

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John Adams, YoungI have long had it in contemplation to pay my respects to you, but a wandering life and various avocations have hitherto prevented.

I am very happy to find that our labors in convention were not in vain. The Constitution, as finished by the convention and accepted by the people, is publishing in all the public papers of Europe, the report of the committee having been published before. Both have been treated with much respect both in Europe and in the other States of America. The noble simplicity of your address to the people is much admired. The substitute for the Governor’s negative is generally thought an amelioration, and I must confess it is so widely guarded that it has quite reconciled me.

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John Adams, Notes for an oration at Braintree, Full Text, (Spring 1772)

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John Adams PortraitThe Origin, the Nature, the Principles and the Ends of Government, in all Ages, the ignorant as well as the enlightened, and in all Nations, the barbarous as well as civilized, have employed the Wits of ingenious Men.
The Magi, the Mufti, the Bramins, and Brachmans, Mandarines, Rabbies, Philosophers, Divines, Schoolmen, Hermits, Legislators, Politicians, Lawyers, have made these the subjects of their Enquiries and Reasonings.
There is nothing too absurd, nothing too enthusiastical or superstitious, nothing too wild or whimsical, nothing too prophane or impious, to be found among such Thinkers, upon such Subjects. Any Thing which subtelty could investigate or imagination conceive, would serve for an Hypothesis, to support a System, excepting only what alone can support the System of Truth—Nature, and Experience.

John Adams Quote, We ought to consider what is the end of government, before we determine which is the best form

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John Adams, Thoughts on Government, PortraitWe ought to consider what is the end of government, before we determine which is the best form. Upon this point all speculative politicians will agree, that the happiness of society is the end of government, as all divines and moral philosophers will agree that the happiness of the individual is the end of man. From this principle it will follow, that the form of government which communicates ease, comfort, security, or, in one word, happiness, to the greatest number of persons, and in the greatest degree, is the best.

All sober inquirers after truth, ancient and modern, pagan and Christian, have declared that the happiness of man, as well as his dignity, consists in virtue. Confucius, Zo- roaster, Socrates, Mahomet, not to mention authorities really sacred, have agreed in this.

If there is a form of government, then, whose principle and foundation is virtue, will not every sober man acknowledge it better calculated to promote the general happiness than any other form?

Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not be likely to approve of any political institution which is founded on it.

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John Adams, A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America

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John Adams Quote, John Adams, "A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America,Property is surely a right of mankind as really as liberty. Perhaps, at first, prejudice, habit, shame or fear, principle or religion, would restrain the poor from attacking the rich, and the idle from usurping on the industrious; but the time would not be long before courage and enterprise would come, and pretexts be invented by degrees, to countenance the majority in dividing all the property among them, or at least, in sharing it equally with its present possessors.

Debts would be abolished first; taxes laid heavy on the rich, and not at all on the others; and at last a downright equal division of every thing be demanded, and voted. What would be the consequence of this?

The idle, the vicious, the intemperate, would rush into the utmost extravagance of debauchery, sell and spend all their share, and then demand a new division of those who purchased from them.

The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If “Thou shalt not covet,” and “Thou shalt not steal,” were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free.

– John Adams, “A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America,” Vol. III, Chapter First: The Right Constitution of a Commonwealth Examined, 1787-1788; Works 6:8-9

Get a FREE Copy of “The Essential John Adams”

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The Essential John Adams edited by Steve Straub book coverGet a FREE copy of “The Essential John Adams” edited by Steve Straub

In this 18 page booklet are the most important and essential John Adams quotes. References are included if you wish to research the original document.

The mission of the Federalist Papers Project is to educate Americans on the principles of government that turned our country into the greatest, richest and most powerful country in the history of the planet while remaining a beacon for freedom and opportunity.

To download your copy of “The Essential John Adams” edited by Steve Straub please right mouse click on the link, then select “save as” and download to your computer -  The Essential Quotes of John Adams
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