opposed to legislative or congressional power). As
president, his initiation of the Alien and Sedition Acts,
which suppressed freedom of speech and press that
were critical of his administration, proved unpopular
and helped Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic–
Republican Party supplant the Federalists as the lead-
ing political party in America in the early 1800s (Presi-
dents Jefferson, MADISON, and Monroe). Adams is also
the father of a kind of political dynasty that included
his son John Quincy Adams (sixth president of the
United States), Charles Francis Adams (U.S. diplo-
mat), and Henry Adams (U.S. historian), a distin-
guished American family in the public and business
life of the United States.
John Adams wrote two books on political theory:
Defence of the Constitutions of the Government of the
United States(1787) and Discourses of Davila(1791),
along with political pamphlets and numerous letters
(including an extended, late-in-life correspondence
with his political rival Thomas Jefferson.
Inheriting a view of human nature from his Puritan
ancestors and John CALVINas sinful and vain, Adams
maintained that people are motivated by “the passion
for distinction” or social prominence. Human selfish-
ness and pride, in the traditional CHRISTIANsense, lead
people to seek honors, distinctions, and the adulation
of others; this causes rivalries, ambitions, and con-
flicts. Society and government should be organized to
control sinful ambitions (particularly of the poor’s
resentment of the rich, the ignorant’s envy of the well
educated, and the obscure’s hatred of the famous). He
admired the conservative British constitution with its
mix of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy and
wanted the U.S. government to imitate that regime
(through the president, the Senate, and the House of
Representatives). This aristocratic approach to U.S.
politics offended many common people who preferred
the more equalitarian system of Jefferson’s DEMOCRATIC
PARTY. But Adams regarded the common run of citizens
as poor, ignorant, and fickle; envious of the rich and
educated; and willing to use the government to redis-
tribute wealth and power to themselves. Pure democ-
racy for Adams, then, was destructive and anarchic. A
system that elevated a “natural ARISTOCRACY” to posi-
tions of government was necessary for the United
States to be a just and prosperous country. For Adams,
this natural aristocracy was the talented and virtuous
in society, who were qualified to rule by dint of their
prominent family background, education, and wealth.
In Adams’s ideal U.S. Constitution, these aristocratic
rulers would occupy the Senate, the presidency, and
the judiciary, providing a check and healthy restraint
on the popular assembly (House of Representatives)
and state governments. This was necessary for a sta-
ble, honest society because if the majority of people
(who are poor) controlled the state, they would use it
to redistribute wealth to themselves through taxes and
bankruptcy laws, thereby injuring the thrifty, wise,
and hardworking citizens and causing the “idle, the
vicious, the intemperate” to “rush into the utmost
extravagance of debauchery,” and greed. For Adams,
redistributing wealth would only encourage sloth, and
soon the clever and thrifty would become wealthy
again and the lazy become poor, requiring another
redistribution of wealth by the state. He maintained
that the right to private property was as sacred as “the
laws of God” and, after British thinker John LOCKE,
regarded a state that did not protect property as
unjust.
Adams’s proud and haughty behavior as president
alienated many of his Federalist supporters as well as
the common people.Further Readings
Howe, J. R. Jr., The Changing Political Thought of John Adams.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1966.
Paynter, J. John Adams: On the Principles of Political Science.
1976.Adams, John 5John Adams, second president of the United States of America.
(PAINTED BYE. SAVAGE IN1800, LIBRARY OFCONGRESS)