John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty

In the first major work on Adams's political thought in over thirty years, C. Bradley Thompson takes issue with the notion that Adams's thought is irrelevant to the development of American ideas. Focusing on Adams's major writings, Thompson elucidates and reevaluates his political and constitutional thought by interpreting it within the tradition of political philosophy stretching from Plato to Montesquieu.

This major revisionist study shows that the distinction Adams drew between "principles of liberty" and "principles of political architecture" is central to his entire political philosophy. Thompson first chronicles Adams's conceptualization of moral and political liberty during his confrontation with American Loyalists and British imperial officers over the true nature of justice and the British Constitution, illuminating Adams's two most important pre- Revolutionary essays, "A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law" and "The Letters of Novanglus." He then presents Adams's debate with French philosophers over the best form of government and provides an extended analysis of his Defence of the Constitutions of Government and Discourses on Davila to demonstrate his theory of political architecture.

From these pages emerges a new John Adams. In reexamining his political thought, Thompson reconstructs the contours and influences of Adams's mental universe, the ideas he challenged, the problems he considered central to constitution- making, and the methods of his reasoning. Skillfully blending history and political science, Thompson's work shows how the spirit of liberty animated Adams's life and reestablishes this forgotten Revolutionary as an independent and important thinker.

This book is part of the American Political Thought series.

I had no idea what a debt of gratitude I owed to one man, John Adams, who more than any other Founding Father developed and provided the intellectual framework that became the Constitution of the United States. At the very least this book should be required reading for any person who is interested in pursuing a career in politics.

To all of you who are interested in understanding the intellectual founding of this country I urge you to read this book. You won't be able to put it down.

And to C. Bradley Thompson, I salute you and thank you for your efforts in resurrecting the reputation and honor of this great man.


Excellent and Engaging!   April 15, 2000
15 out of 18 found this review helpful

In the company of Jefferson, Madison, and Washington, John Adams' significant contribution to American political and intellectual life is often overlooked. This well-written, thoroughly engaging text seeks to put Adams in his rightful place among the Founders of our great nation. Professor Thompson provides a thorough analysis of the development of Adams' political thought: his early philosophical and religious thinking, his revolutionary writings (including the brilliant "Novanglus" pamphlets), and the mature thought of Adams the statesman. Readers will finish this book with a profound awareness of the unique philosophical revolution which fueled the American Revolution, and they will come to appreciate that Adams was (like the author) a brilliant mind. As a former student of Thompson's, I thoroughly appreciate this book.


Knowing the Ideas of the Founders   September 3, 2005
TIADaily.com
6 out of 6 found this review helpful


To return America to its original foundation of freedom and individual rights, it is vital that we know the ideas of the men who created that system. This important task will be easier thanks to this book by C. Bradley Thompson. Readers interested in the Founding period and its legacy for our own time will not want to miss this book.



John Adams - American Hero   April 16, 2007
T. Dungey (Houston,Tx.)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

The most critical period of American history actually occurred after the revolution. The instability of anarchy threatened to make the ideas expressed in Jefferson's Declaration of Independence and the heroic successes of Washington nothing more than a forgotten dream. Another hero, one who would be willing to chronicle all previous forms of government and guide the architects of the constitution in creating something entirely new was what was needed. He was more than just another name on the list of American presidents. That hero was John Adams.
Thank you, C. Bradley Thompson, for this inspirational account of an often overlooked and undervalued intellectual giant among the American John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty by C. Bradley Thompson
founders.