168 Chapter VIII
“social” in social compact? And whence comes the word “citizen”? There were no
“citizens” under the British constitution, except in the sense of freemen of the few
towns known as cities. In the English language the word “citizen” in its modern
sense is an Americanism, dating from the American Revolution.^13 It is entirely
possible that Jean- Jacques Rousseau had deposited these terms in Adams’ mind.
The whole passage suggests Chapter vi, Book I, of the Social Contract. The conven-
tion adopted this part of Adams’ preamble without change.
In the enacting clause of the preamble Adams wrote: “We, therefore, the dele-
gates of the people of Massachusetts... agree upon the following... Constitution
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.” The convention made a significant emen-
dation: “We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts... agree upon, ordain and es-
tablish.. .” The formula, We the people ordain and establish, expressing the developed
theory of the people as constituent power, was used for the first time in the Massa-
chusetts constitution of 1780, whence it passed into the preamble of the United
States constitution of 1787 and the new Pennsylvania of 1790, after which it be-
came common in the constitutions of the new states, and in new constitutions of the
old states. Adams did not invent the formula. He was content with the matter- of-
fact or purely empirical statement that the “delegates” had “agreed.” It was the popu-
larly elected convention that rose to more abstract heights. Providing in advance for
popular ratification, it imputed the creation of government to the people.
Adams wrote, as the first article of the Declaration of Rights: “All men are born
equally free and independent, and have certain natural, essential and unalienable
rights,” which included defense of their lives, liberties, and property, and the seek-
ing of “safety and happiness.” The Virginia Declaration of Rights, drafted by
George Mason in June 1776, was almost identical, and Adams certainly had it in
mind. The Massachusetts convention made only one change in this sentence. It
declared: “All men are born free and equal.” The convention, obviously, was think-
ing of the Declaration of Independence, that is, Jefferson’s more incisive rewording
of Mason’s Virginia declaration.
The convention had been elected by a true universal male suffrage, but it ad-
opted, following Adams’ draft, a restriction on the franchise. To vote, under the
constitution, it was necessary to own real estate worth £3 a year, or real and per-
sonal property of a value of £60. The charter of 1691 had specified only £2 and £40
respectively. The state constitution was thus in this respect more conservative than
the charter. How much more conservative? Here we run into the difference be-
tween experts already mentioned.^14 A whole school of thought, pointing to a 50
per cent increase in the voting qualification, has seen a reaction of property- owners
against dangers from below. Closer examination of the values of money reveals
13 This may be readily confirmed from the Oxford Dictionary, or by comparison of definitions of
“citizen” in British and American dictionaries, or by tracing the article “citizen” through successive
editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, where the modern meaning does not appear until the elev-
enth edition in 1910.
14 For emphasis on the conservative or reactionary character of the Massachusetts constitution,
see Douglass, op.cit., 189–213, and more specialized writers cited there; for the opposite view, which
I follow in part, see R. E. Brown, Middle- Class Democracy and the Revolution in Massachusetts, 1691–
1780 (Ithaca, 1955), 384–400.