A short and concise primer on the fundamental principles of the American Government, This Republic draws upon the writings of the American founders, and extensively the writings of John Adams, to thoroughly explain the nature of republics and republican governments.

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 Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot and Dr. Richard Price. In his letter, Turgot criticized the constitutions of government that several of the...

In this second volume of A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, John Adams continues his argument against Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot and his theories of "collecting all authority into one center."

Delving into the Italian republics of the middle age, Adams uses pure history, extensive extracts from the works of Italian historians, to demonstrate to the American people, and the world, that the same tumult, corruption and blood that so pervaded those governments of the past, would be the effects of any government so constituted.

...

In this third and final volume of A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, John Adams brings to a close his lengthy argument against "collecting all authority into one center."

By first continuing his exposition of the Italian republics of the middle age, Adams acutely demonstrates the disharmony and upheaval that result from governments being improperly balanced. He then turns to theory, beginning with the letter of Padua and extending into a detailed refutation of the writings of Marchamont Nedham.

Against this backdrop of...