John Adams's Ideas On Government And Their Sources

This thesis explores John Adams's political ideas on government demonstrated in his twoworks Thoughts on Government and Defence of the Constitutions of Government of theUnited States of America and then discusses their sources and influences.The thesis first introduces briefly the social and historical background from 1760s to1780s against which Adams completed his two works. The introduction aims at having abetter understanding of Adams's ideas within such a context. To challenge the Frenchphilosophe Turgot's critique that American Revolutionary constitutions imitated the checksand balances of England's mixed constitution to balance different powers "as if thisequilibrium…could be of any use in republics founded upon the equality of all the citizens",Adams elaborated his ideas on government. He put much emphasis on "a government of law,not of men" and figured out three basic principles of political architecture on which allconstitutions must be constructed: first, representation rather than actual assemblies of thepeople;second, a separation of the legislative, executive, and judicial powers;and third, amixed and balanced legislature. Adams's understanding of government can not be separated from his ideas on humannature, equality and inequality, and public virtue. Adams was realistic about human nature.He believed that human beings were capable of great good, but also of great evil. It wasimperative to employ institutional devices to control and utilize people's "passions". Adamsbelieved that differences in human quality were inevitable, which would inevitably result ina natural aristocracy. He sought for a constitutional device, which could on the one handutilize the influence of the natural aristocracy for the benefit of the public and on the otherhand, prevent them from disturbing the people's authority. His solution was to arrange thisnatural aristocracy together in a separate house, isolating them from the rest of the nation,therefore the nation would "have the benefit of their wisdom, without fear of their passion."In this way, a balance would be reached in the legislature. So Adams strongly opposedTurgot's opinion of a single assembly and insisted on a bicameral legislature.Regarding the sources of Adams's ideas, the thesis mainly examines the influence ofJohn Locke, Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton on Adams in terms of epistemology andmethodology in studying politics. The political philosophy of John Locke, Machiavelli andJames Harrington, coupled with the colonial political experience and the social reality of therevolutionary era helped shape Adams's ideas on government.The thesis also analyses the embodiment of Adams's political ideas in the 1780Massachusetts Constitution and his contribution to the constitution making through his workDefence as well as his work on the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution.In the end, the thesis concludes that Adams's political ideas contributed to the form thatthe American Constitution has taken through his work on the 1780 MassachusettsConstitution and his political writings.