John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: simple democratic government, triple equipoise, spectemur agendo, John Adams, Principles of Political Architecture, Principles of Liberty (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An important book. Convincingly demonstrates that Adams earned a place among America's greatest political thinkers." -- American Historical Review

"This is intellectual history as it should be written: powerful and penetrating, compelling and convincing." -- Times Literary Supplement

Product Description

America's finest eighteenth-century student of political science, John Adams is also the least studied of the Revolution's key figures. By the time he became our second president, no American had written more about our government and not even Jefferson or Madison had read as widely about questions of human nature, natural right, political organization, and constitutional construction. Yet this staunch constitutionalist is perceived by many as having become reactionary in his later years and his ideas have been largely disregarded.

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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Kansas (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0700611819
• ISBN-13: 978-0700611812
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #537,004 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Award winner-- 1999 best first book in political theory, October 31, 2000

By	Jacob T. Levy (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty (Modern War Studies) (Hardcover)

John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty as a co-winner of the 1999 Best First Book awad from the Foundaions of Political Theoy section of the American Political Science Associatio. The award citation reads as follows: "In John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty, C. Bradley Thompson offers us a thoughtful and compelling revisionist account of Adams's politics and political theory. Thompson begins by showing how Adams's critical rethinking of Calvinism led him to reject it in favor of a Lockean conception of the problem of liberty, social order and political authority. The question of politics and government, then for Adams, was how to protect the natural liberty and rights to which each freeman is entitled through constitutional arrangements that are the work of philosophy, reason, and free will rather than grounded in tradition and common law. By posing the problem in this fashion, Thompson argues, Adams developed the most systematic science of politics of all early American political thinkers. This science of politics is grounded in Baconian principles of science, the lessons of history, and a science of human nature. From these foundations it is possible to identify the distinctive requirements of modern (vs. classical republicanism) and the imperatives and principles of political architecture. In the process, Thompson demonstrates that Adams's prescription for political life was both complex and original. Rejecting both direct democracy and classical republicanism, Adams opted for a republican constitution that would constrain and elevate the passions excited by commercial society. Indeed, it was Adams's belief that a properly constituted public sphere would help cultivate the kind of modest virtues among citizens that were preferable to the vaunted glory of classical antiquity. In demonstrating the complexity and depth of John Adams's politics and political thought, Bradley Thompson provides us with a cogent argument for reconsidering Adams's place in the Founding period and the relevance of his thought for contemporary politics."

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Atlas of America, November 26, 2001

By	Russell W. Shurts (Centennial, CO United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty (Modern War Studies) (Hardcover)

I just finished reading C. Bradley Thompson's "John Adams and The Spirit of Liberty," and am in awe; not only of John Adams but of Dr. Thompson's masterful explication of Adams' political thought.

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.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and Engaging!, April 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty (Modern War Studies) (Hardcover)

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.