Thoughts on Government
Thoughts on Government, or in full Thoughts on Government, Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies, was written by John Adams during the spring of 1776 in response to a resolution of the North Carolina Provincial Congress which requested Adams's suggestions on the establishment of a new government and the drafting of a constitution.
Adams says that "Politics is the Science of human Happiness -and the Felicity of Societies depends on the Constitutions of Government under which they live." Many of the ideas put forth in Adams's essay were adopted in December 1776 by the framers of North Carolina's first constitution.
The document is notable in that Adams sketches out the three branches of American government: the executive, judicial, and legislative branches, all with a system of checks and balances.
Furthermore, in response to Common Sense by Thomas Paine, Adams rejects the idea of a single legislative body, fearing it may become tyrannical or self-serving (as in the case of Holland at the time).
Thus, Adams also conceives the idea of two legislative bodies that will serve as checks on each other's power. [1]
See also
Constitutionalism
Rule according to higher law
References
^ John Adams by David McCullough, Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, New York, 2001. Pg 102-103. ISBN 13:978-0-684-81363-9
External links
Thoughts on Government at Online Library of Liberty
9:
Thoughts on Government:
Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies - John Adams, Revolutionary Writings [1763]
Edition used:
The Revolutionary Writings of John Adams, Selected and with a Foreword by C. Bradley Thompson (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000).
Author: John Adams
Foreword: C. Bradley Thompson
Fair use statement:
This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit.
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Editor’s Note
1: Essays and Controversial Papers of the Revolution
On Private Revenge
On Self-delusion
On Private Revenge
2: A Dissertation On the Canon and Feudal Law
3: Instructions of the Town of Braintree to Their Representative, 1765
4: The Earl of Clarendon to William Pym
No. I
No. Ii
No. Iii
5: Governor Winthrop to Governor Bradford
No. I
No. II: That the Hypocrite Reign Not, Lest the People Be Ensnared. Job.
6: The Independence of the Judiciary; a Controversy Between William Brattle and John Adams
7: Two Replies of the Massachusetts House of Representatives to Governor Hutchinson
Answer to His Excellency’s Speech At the Opening of the Session
Answer to His Excellency’s Speech
8: Novanglus; Or, a History of the Dispute With America, From Its Origin, In 1754, to the Present Time Addressed to the Inhabitants of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay
No. I
No. Ii
No. Iii
No. Iv
No. V
No. Vi
No. Vii
No. Viii
No. Ix
No. X
No. Xi
No. Xii
9: Thoughts On Government: Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies
10: The Report of a Constitution, Or Form of Government, For the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Preamble
Chapter I: A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Chapter II: The Frame of Government
Chapter III: Executive Power
Chapter IV: Judiciary Power
Chapter V: Delegates to Congress, Commissions, Writs, Indictments, &c.; Confirmation of Laws, Habeas Corpus, and Enacting Style
Chapter VI: The University At Cambridge, and Encouragement of Literature, &c.
Chapter Vii and Last
9
Thoughts on Government:
In late 1775, John Adams assumed a leading role in the Continental Congress to encourage the thirteen colonies to begin designing and constructing new governments.
The following May, Congress passed a resolution recommending to the various colonial assemblies that they establish new governments that would “best conduce to the happiness and Safety of their Constituents in particular and America in General.”
Considered by many as the one person who had thought most deeply about constitutional design, Adams was frequently called upon to recommend various plans of government.
Just prior to the May resolution, several members of the Continental Congress approached him for advice on how to frame new constitutions for their respective states.
Adams responded to their requests with his most influential writing of the Revolutionary period, Thoughts on Government.
Adams also wrote the Thoughts as an antidote to the political prescriptions advanced in Thomas Paine’s recently published Common Sense.
[NEWT NOTE: This was John Adam's thining as a "very young man" and NOT his mature thoughts:
This short essay stands as a distillation of Adams’s most advanced political thinking. . . . (as the leftists like to say) . . . OF HIS YOUTH!
The principles that he would later put forth in his great treatise, A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, are all found in Thoughts:
The influence of Thoughts on Government on American constitution-makers was widespread. The historical evidence strongly suggests that Thoughts was used as a constitutional blueprint in North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts.
Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies
My dear Sir,—
If
I was equal to the task of forming a plan for the government of a
colony, I should be flattered with your request, and very happy to
comply with it; because, as the divine science of politics is the
science of social happiness, and the blessings of society depend
entirely on the constitutions of government, which are generally
institutions that last for many generations, there can be no employment
more agreeable to a benevolent mind than a research after the best.
Pope flattered tyrants too much when he said,
“For forms of government let fools contest,
That which is best administered is best.”
Nothing
can be more fallacious than this. But poets read history to collect
flowers, not fruits; they attend to fanciful images, not the effects of
social institutions.
Nothing is more certain, from the history of
nations and nature of man, than that some forms of government are better
fitted for being well administered than others.
We 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, Zoroaster,
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.
Honor is truly
sacred, but holds a lower rank in the scale of moral excellence than
virtue. Indeed, the former is but a part of the latter, and consequently
has not equal pretensions to support a frame of government productive
of human happiness.
The foundation of every government is some
principle or passion in the minds of the people.
The noblest principles
and most generous affections in our nature, then, have the fairest
chance to support the noblest and most generous models of government.
A
man must be indifferent to the sneers of modern Englishmen, to mention
in their company the names of Sidney, Harrington, Locke, Milton, Nedham,
Neville, Burnet, and Hoadly. No small fortitude is necessary to confess
that one has read them.
The wretched condition of this country, however, for ten or fifteen years past, has frequently reminded me of their principles and reasonings. They will convince any candid mind, that there is no good government but what is republican.
That the only valuable part of the British constitution is so; because the very definition of a republic is “an empire of laws, and not of men.”
That,
as a republic is the best of governments, so that particular arrangement
of the powers of society, or, in other words, that form of government
which is best contrived to secure an impartial and exact execution of
the laws, is the best of republics.
Of republics there is an
inexhaustible variety, because the possible combinations of the powers
of society are capable of innumerable variations.
As good
government is an empire of laws, how shall your laws be made?
In a large society, inhabiting an extensive country, it is impossible that the whole should assemble to make laws.
The first necessary step, then, is to depute power from the many to a few of the most wise and good.
But by
what rules shall you choose your representatives? Agree upon the number
and qualifications of persons who shall have the benefit of choosing,
or annex this privilege to the inhabitants of a certain extent of
ground.
The principal difficulty lies, and the greatest care
should be employed, in constituting this representative assembly. It
should be in miniature an exact portrait of the people at large. It
should think, feel, reason, and act like them.
That it may be the interest of this assembly to do strict justice at all times, it should be an equal representation, or, in other words, equal interests among the people should have equal interests in it.
Great care should be taken to effect this, and to prevent unfair, partial, and corrupt elections.
Such regulations, however, may be better made in times of greater tranquillity than the present; and they will spring up themselves naturally, when all the powers of government come to be in the hands of the people’s friends.
At present, it will be safest to proceed in all
established modes, to which the people have been familiarized by habit.
A
representation of the people in one assembly being obtained, a question
arises, whether all the powers of government, legislative, executive,
and judicial, shall be left in this body? I think a people cannot be
long free, nor ever happy, whose government is in one assembly. My
reasons for this opinion are as follow:—
1. A single assembly is
liable to all the vices, follies, and frailties of an individual;
subject to fits of humor, starts of passion, flights of enthusiasm,
partialities, or prejudice, and consequently productive of hasty results
and absurd judgments. And all these errors ought to be corrected and
defects supplied by some controlling power.
2. A single assembly
is apt to be avaricious, and in time will not scruple to exempt itself
from burdens, which it will lay, without compunction, on its
constituents.
3. A single assembly is apt to grow ambitious, and
after a time will not hesitate to vote itself perpetual. This was one
fault of the Long Parliament; but more remarkably of Holland, whose
assembly first voted themselves from annual to septennial, then for
life, and after a course of years, that all vacancies happening by death
or otherwise, should be filled by themselves, without any application
to constituents at all.
4. A representative assembly, although
extremely well qualified, and absolutely necessary, as a branch of the
legislative, is unfit to exercise the executive power, for want of two
essential properties,
5. A representative
assembly is still less qualified for the judicial power, because it is
too numerous, too slow, and too little skilled in the laws.
6.
Because a single assembly, possessed of all the powers of government,
would:
But shall the whole power of legislation rest in one assembly?
Most of the foregoing reasons apply equally to prove that
the legislative power ought to be more complex; to which we may add,
that if the legislative power is wholly in one assembly, and the
executive in another, or in a single person, these two powers will
oppose and encroach upon each other, until the contest shall end in war,
and the whole power, legislative and executive, be usurped by the
strongest.
The judicial power, in such case, could not mediate,
or hold the balance between the two contending powers, because the
legislative would undermine it. And this shows the necessity, too, of
giving the executive power a negative upon the legislative, otherwise
this will be continually encroaching upon that.
To avoid these
dangers, let a distinct assembly be constituted, as a mediator between
the two extreme branches of the legislature, that which represents the
people, and that which is vested with the executive power.
Let
the representative assembly then elect by ballot, from among themselves
or their constituents, or both, a distinct assembly, which, for the sake
of perspicuity, we will call a council.
It may consist of any number
you please, say twenty or thirty, and should have a free and independent
exercise of its judgment, and consequently a negative voice in the
legislature.
These two bodies, thus constituted, and made
integral parts of the legislature, let them unite, and by joint ballot
choose a governor, who, after being stripped of most of those badges of
domination, called prerogatives, should have a free and independent
exercise of his judgment, and be made also an integral part of the
legislature.
This, I know, is liable to objections; and, if you please, you may make him only president of the council, as in Connecticut.
But as the governor is to be invested with the executive power, with consent of council, I think he ought to have a negative upon the legislative.
If he is annually elective, as he ought to be, he will always have so
much reverence and affection for the people, their representatives and
counsellors, that, although you give him an independent exercise of his
judgment, he will seldom use it in opposition to the two houses, except
in cases the public utility of which would be conspicuous; and some such
cases would happen.
In the present exigency of American affairs,
when, by an act of Parliament, we are put out of the royal protection,
and consequently discharged from our allegiance, and it has become
necessary to assume government for our immediate security, the governor,
lieutenant-governor, secretary, treasurer, commissary,
attorney-general, should be chosen by joint ballot of both houses.
And these and all other elections, especially of representatives and counsellors, should be annual,
These great men, in this respect, should be, once a year,
“Like bubbles on the sea of matter borne,
They rise, they break, and to that sea return.”
This
will teach them the great political virtues of humility, patience, and
moderation, without which every man in power becomes a ravenous beast of
prey.
This mode of constituting the great offices of state will
answer very well for the present; but if by experiment it should be
found inconvenient, the legislature may, at its leisure, devise other
methods of creating them, by elections of the people at large, as in
Connecticut,
or it may enlarge the term for which they shall be chosen
to seven years, or three years, or for life, or make any other
alterations which the society shall find productive of its ease, its
safety, its freedom, or, in one word, its happiness.
A rotation
of all offices, as well as of representatives and counsellors, has many
advocates, and is contended for with many plausible arguments.
It would be attended, no doubt, with many advantages; and if the society has a sufficient number of suitable characters to supply the great number of vacancies which would be made by such a rotation, I can see no objection to it.
These persons may be allowed to serve for three years, and then
be excluded three years, or for any longer or shorter term.
Any
seven or nine of the legislative council may be made a quorum, for doing
business as a privy council, to advise the governor in the exercise of
the executive branch of power, and in all acts of state.
The
governor should have the command of the militia and of all your armies.
The power of pardons should be with the governor and council.
Judges,
justices, and all other officers, civil and military, should be
nominated and appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of
council, unless you choose to have a government more popular; if you do,
all officers, civil and military, may be chosen by joint ballot of both
houses; or, in order to preserve the independence and importance of
each house, by ballot of one house, concurred in by the other. Sheriffs
should be chosen by the freeholders of counties; so should registers of
deeds and clerks of counties.
All officers should have commissions, under the hand of the governor and seal of the colony.
The
dignity and stability of government in all its branches, the morals of
the people, and every blessing of society depend so much upon an upright
and skilful administration of justice, that the judicial power ought to
be distinct from both the legislative and executive, and independent
upon both, that so it may be a check upon both, as both should be checks
upon that.
The judges, therefore, should be always men of learning and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals, great patience, calmness, coolness, and attention.
Their minds should not be distracted with jarring interests; they should not be dependent upon any man, or body of men.
To these ends, they should hold estates for life in their offices; or, in other words, their commissions should be during good behavior, and their salaries ascertained and established by law.
For misbehavior,
the grand inquest of the colony, the house of representatives, should
impeach them before the governor and council, where they should have
time and opportunity to make their defence; but, if convicted, should be
removed from their offices, and subjected to such other punishment as
shall be thought proper.
A militia law, requiring all men, or
with very few exceptions besides cases of conscience, to be provided
with arms and ammunition, to be trained at certain seasons; and
requiring counties, towns, or other small districts, to be provided with
public stocks of ammunition and intrenching utensils,
and with some
settled plans for transporting provisions after the militia, when
marched to defend their country against sudden invasions; and requiring
certain districts to be provided with field-pieces, companies of
matrosses, and perhaps some regiments of light-horse, is always a wise
institution, and, in the present circumstances of our country,
indispensable.
Laws for the liberal education of youth,
especially of the lower class of people, are so extremely wise and
useful, that, to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose
would be thought extravagant.
The very mention of sumptuary laws
will excite a smile.
Whether our countrymen have wisdom and virtue enough to submit to them, I know not; but the happiness of the people might be greatly promoted by them, and a revenue saved sufficient to carry on this war forever.
Frugality is a great revenue, besides curing
us of vanities, levities, and fopperies, which are real antidotes to all
great, manly, and warlike virtues.
But must not all commissions
run in the name of a king? No. Why may they not as well run thus, “The
colony of NA to A. B. greeting,” and be tested by the governor?
Why
may not writs, instead of running in the name of the king, run thus,
“The colony of NA to the sheriff,” &c., and be tested by the chief
justice?
Why may not indictments conclude, “against the peace of the colony of NA and the dignity of the same?”
A
constitution founded on these principles introduces knowledge among the
people, and inspires them with a conscious dignity becoming freemen; a
general emulation takes place, which causes good humor, sociability,
good manners, and good morals to be general.
That elevation of sentiment inspired by such a government, makes the common people brave and enterprising. That ambition which is inspired by it makes them sober, industrious, and frugal. You will find among them some elegance, perhaps, but more solidity; a little pleasure, but a great deal of business; some politeness, but more civility.
If you compare such a
country with the regions of domination, whether monarchical or
aristocratical, you will fancy yourself in Arcadia or Elysium.
If
the colonies should assume governments separately, they should be left
entirely to their own choice of the forms; and if a continental
constitution should be formed, it should be a congress, containing a
fair and adequate representation of the colonies, and its authority
should sacredly be confined to these cases, namely, war, trade, disputes
between colony and colony, the post-office, and the unappropriated
lands of the crown, as they used to be called.
These colonies, under such forms of government, and in such a union, would be unconquerable by all the monarchies of Europe.
You
and I, my dear friend, have been sent into life at a time when the
greatest lawgivers of antiquity would have wished to live.
How few of the human race have ever enjoyed an opportunity of making an election of government, more than of air, soil, or climate, for themselves or their children!
When, before the present epocha, had three millions of people full power and a fair opportunity to form and establish the wisest and happiest government that human wisdom can contrive?
I hope you will avail yourself and your country of that extensive learning and indefatigable industry which you possess, to assist her in the formation of the happiest governments and the best character of a great people.
For myself, I must beg you to keep my name out of sight; for this feeble
attempt, if it should be known to be mine, would oblige me to apply to
myself those lines of the immortal John Milton, in one of his sonnets:—
“I did but prompt the age to quit their clogs
By the known rules of ancient liberty,
When straight a barbarous noise environs me
Of owls and cuckoos, asses, apes, and dogs.”