A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America
A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America is a three-volume work by John Adams published in 1787–1788. Adams wrote it while serving as the American ambassador in London.
In Britain, as in previous postings in France and the Netherlands, Adams had confronted several criticisms of the various state constitutions in place at the time. The work is a defense of those documents, not the Constitution of the United States, whose drafting began in May 1787.
The most prominent critic Adams confronted was Anne Robert Jacques Turgot. Turgot's works were read as criticizing the separation of powers found in the state constitutions. Turgot rejected the idea of bicameral legislatures and governors with executive powers, arguing that the best republic was one with a single legislature with all powers and responsibilities. Turgot had died in 1781, but posthumously his ideas had been adopted by other European liberals, including Richard Price and the comte de Mirabeau. Adams believed that Turgot's ideas also had many supporters in the United States.[1]
Turgot argued that the American system was simply a republican gloss over the structures inherited from Britain, a senate replacing the House of Lords and president replacing the king. The bulk of Adam's three-volume book is describing various republics from across history to argue that the American system is designed to take the best parts of all of them. The republics covered include those of Europe in Adams' time, the Netherlands, the city states of northern Italy, and he has discussions of each of the Swiss cantons and their diverse republican systems. He also looks at what he calls the monarchical republics of Britain and Poland, and the classical republics in Greece and Rome.
References
- ^ Slauter, Will. “Constructive Misreadings: Adams, Turgot, and the American State Constitutions.” The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, vol. 105, no. 1, 2011, pp. 33–67. JSTOR 10.1086/680752. Accessed 21 Nov. 2020.
- v
- t
- e
- 2nd President of the United States (1797–1801)
- 1st Vice President of the United States (1789–1797)
- U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom (1785–1788)
- U.S. Minister to the Netherlands (1782–1788)
- Delegate to the Second Continental Congress (1775–1778)
- Delegate to the First Continental Congress (1774)
United States
- Braintree Instructions (1765)
- Boston Massacre defense
- Continental Association
- Petition to the King
- United Colonies
- Thoughts on Government (1776)
- Lee Resolution (seconded)
- Declaration of Independence
- Model Treaty
- Treaty of Amity and Commerce
- Treaty of Alliance
- Board of War
- Chairman of the Marine Committee, 1775-1779
- Staten Island Peace Conference
- Constitution of Massachusetts (1780)
- Treaty of Paris, 1783
- Diplomacy
- Inauguration
- Quasi War with France
- Mississippi Organic Act
- Alien and Sedition Acts
- Sick and Disabled Seamen Relief Act
- Bankruptcy Act of 1800
- Indiana Organic Act
- Slave Trade Act of 1800
- District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801
- Navy Department Library
- Treaty of Tellico
- Treaty of Tripoli
- Midnight Judges Act
- State of the Union Address (1797
- 1798
- 1799
- 1800)
- Cabinet
- Federal judiciary appointments
- Massachusetts Historical Society holdings
- A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America
- Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams
- Founders Online
- Gray v. Pitts
homes
- Early life and education
- Adams National Historical Park
- Massachusetts Hall, Harvard University
- Presidents House, Philadelphia
- Co-founder and second president, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- United First Parish Church and gravesite
- Bibliography
- List of memorials
- Adams Memorial (proposed)
- John Adams Building
- John Adams Courthouse
- Jefferson Memorial pediment
- U.S. Postage stamps
- Treaty of Paris (1783 painting)
- USS Adams (1799)
- USS John Adams (1799)
- USS Adams (1874)
- USS President Adams (1941)
- USS John Adams (1963)
- Adams House at Harvard University
- Mount Adams (New Hampshire, Washington)
- Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence
- Profiles in Courage (1964 series)
- American Primitive (1969 play)
- 1776 (1969 musical
- 1972 film)
- The Adams Chronicles (1976 miniseries)
- Liberty! (1997 documentary series)
- Liberty's Kids (2002 animated series)
- John Adams (2001 book
- 2008 miniseries)
- John and Abigail Adams (2006 documentary film)
- Sons of Liberty (2015 miniseries)
- Franklin (2024 miniseries)
- Abigail Adams
- wife
- Quincy family
- Abigail Adams Smith (daughter)
- John Quincy Adams
- son
- presidency
- Charles Adams (son)
- Thomas Boylston Adams (son)
- George W. Adams (grandson)
- Charles Adams Sr. (grandson)
- John Adams II (grandson)
- John Q. Adams (great-grandson)
- Henry Adams (great-grandson)
- Brooks Adams (great-grandson)
- John Adams Sr. (father)
- Susanna Boylston (mother)
- Elihu Adams (brother)
- Samuel Adams (second cousin)
- Louisa Adams
- daughter-in-law
- first lady