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Defence
of The
Constitutions of Government
of The
United States
of
America,
Against The Attack of M. Turgot
In His
Letter To Dr. Price,
Dated The Twenty-Second Day of March, 1778.
By John Adams, LL.D.
And A Member of The Academy of Arts and Sciences at Boston.
In Three Volumes.
A New Edition.
Publication Date: 1794. A New Edition, so stated. [Second Edition]
Publisher: London: John Stockdale.
Author: John Adams, LL.D., President of The United States.
Binding: Bound in 3/4 calf leather. 5 raised bands per volume with gilt accents. Gilt decorative devices in spine compartments. Two leather labels per spine, one red and one black. All of which remain fully present and bright. Marbleized boards. Bindings are solid. Some rubbing/scuffing. Volumes measure 8 5/8" x 5 3/4". Marbleized endpapers. The volumes are Ex Library, and there is evidence of removal of library bookplates on front pastedowns and front free endpapers. There are NO markings on the text. The half-titles are event present, which read "History of The Principal Republics In The World". br />
Description: Rare. Complete in 3 volumes. Engraved frontispiece of Adams – a portrait by Copley, engraved by Hall. (from a 1783 Copley painting). Text is very clean and crisp. Half-titles present, as noted above. xxxii, 392pp; 451pp + Directions to The Binder, 501pp +Index [36pp]. Adams wrote this fundamental contribution to American political theory when he was the American ambassador at the Court of St. James. Published in London and immediately reprinted in New York and Philadelphia, the Defence was a profound influence on the delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the framers of several post-Revolutionary state constitutions. It also did much to familiarize Europeans with the novel political events taking place in America. Adams intended the Defence to be a one-volume work. It attracted a good deal of critical attention after its publication in 1787, which Adams addressed in two more volumes published in 1788. He explores and encourages others to read the writings of philosophers and sages from all ages: Machiavel, Sidney, Locke, Harrington, Milton, Ponnet, the Vindiciae contra Tyrannos, Hoadley, Trenchard, Gordon, and Plato Redivivus. A Defence 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. In the first letter, dated October 4, 1786, Adams reviewed the critiques of Turgot in particular and proposes to address the issues and criticism. He wrote to defend the various Constitutions which had been enacted within the States at that time, while examining the processes used to balance power and avoid tyranny. His defense of the Constitution played an important role in the development of American political theory. He calls for a doctrine of the separation of powers, a system of checks and balances, and a legislature of two houses. The work's timely publication and thesis influenced the delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Written and originally published in London in 1787 while Adams was serving at the Court of King James.
Written as a series of letters defending limited government, written constitutions, and other aspects of American political and legal institutions. According to Larned, "John Adams, it is safe to say, bestowed more thought on the nature of government, and exerted more influence in determining the character of the constitutions adopted during the Revolution by most of the original states, than any one of his contemporaries." This important work appeared in America while the convention for framing a Constitution was meeting. Adams' book advocated the doctrine of the separation of powers and a legislature of two houses, and greatly influenced the delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Its timeliness gave it considerable influence during the period of the framing of the Constitution. Adams was serving at the Court of King James's when he wrote this treatise, thus the first edition was published in London. This work did much to familiarize the European mind to the novel state of things then taking place in America. It includes the opinions of eminent writers on various republics of the world. Adams speaks at length about the constitutions of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Larned, The Literature of American History 2687. Sabin, A Dictionary of Books Relating to America 236.
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