Defence Constitutions Government United States

Available for the first time in a modern and readable edition! Preceding The Federalist by several years, this first volume of John Adams A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America is a profound work of political and governmental theory. What prompted Adams to write such a remarkable treatise was a letter, a letter exchanged between a French statesman and a Welsh philosopher, between AnneRobertJacques Turgot and Dr. Richard Price. In his letter, Turgot criticized the constitutions of government that several of the American states had adopted since their separation from Great Britain. In Turgots view, their governments too much resembled the British government, with its king, lords and commons. Turgot advocated a much simpler form of government, a government as democratic as possible, consisting of a single assembly of representatives. Meanwhile, in America, the Congress established under the Articles of Confederation (a single assembly with little check or balance) was failing as the national government of the United States. And to address the institutional failures of this singleassembly "government," the several states had appointed delegates to meet in convention at Philadelphia, to devise "a more perfect union."Thus, Adams Defence, published in three volumes beginning in early 1787, could not have been more timely, for in addition to a vigorous defense of the several American constitutions, Adams also provided the Philadelphia delegates...