ADAMS (John). Defense of the American Constitutions, or Of t - Lot 1

ADAMS (John). Defense of the American Constitutions, or Of the Necessity of a Balance in the Powers of a Free Government. À Paris, chez Buisson, 1792. 2 volumes in-8, (4 of which with white verso)-xxiv-547-(one white) + (4 of which with white verso)-503-(one white) pp., porphyry basane, spine ribbed, cloisonné and fleuronné with black title and tomaison pieces, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, filleted edges, gilt edges; worn bindings with damaged upper covers and split spines, tear formerly restored on f. Ll1 of the first volume (period binding). FIRST EDITION OF THE FRENCH TRANSLATION by the diplomat Pierre-Bernard Lamare. It is accompanied by notes by Jacques-Vincent Delacroix (1743-1832), who contributed to the dictionary of jurisprudence in the Encyclopédie méthodique (1782-1789), taught public law at the Lycée de Paris, and was a judge at the Tribunal civil de Versailles (1800). John Adams' work had originally appeared under the title "A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States", in December 1787 in London (where Adams was ambassador at the time), and was republished immediately afterwards in Philadelphia and New York. AN AMERICAN DEBATE INITIATED BY THE POLEMIC BETWEEN THE FRENCHMAN TURGOT AND THE WELSHMAN RICHARD PRICE. At the beginning of 1776, even before the United States declared its independence, the Reverend Richard Price (1723-1791), a philosopher and economist who was a friend of Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, published his resounding Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, the Principles of Government, and the Justice and Policy of the War in America, in which he showed himself to be in favor of the liberties of the English colonies in America. The physiocrat economist Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot (1727-1781), who was Comptroller General of Finances (1774-1776), wrote a letter to Richard Price in 1778 on the subject of the United States of America, in which he criticized the Constitutions of the first nine states to adopt them (1776-1777), in particular the tripartite form of government adopted (House, Senate, Governor) which, in his view, apes English institutions and imposes an unnecessary separation in an egalitarian nation. This letter was released to the public in 1784, as an appendix to a new libel by Richard Price, Observations on the Importance of the American Revolution. From September 1786 to December 1787, John Adams composed the present Defense as a response to the arguments of Turgot's letter, for the enlightened European readership, but also to weigh in on the debate in the United States, as the Federal Constitution was being drafted, then debated and voted on. He asserted that to raise the nation into an egalitarian society, centralized political power with checks and balances was necessary to avoid tyranny. Less concerned about the power of one than about the appropriation of power by an oligarchy whose existence he deemed inevitable, John Adams explained that the cohabitation of a House of Representatives and a Senate was the only way to maintain a balance between the two orders of society, one aristocratic and oligarchic (Senate), the other popular (House). With this "profession of political faith", as he wrote to Benjamin Franklin ("my confession of political faith"), John Adams committed himself to some extremely controversial issues, and considered that the work would make him unpopular. Although its publication did not prevent him from being elected, it did provoke the expected controversy: James Madison, in particular, criticized John Adams for his reactionary monarchical leanings and excessive admiration for the English model. THE PUBLICATION OF THIS TEXT PLAYED A GREAT ROLE IN THE UNITED STATES TO FACILITATE THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION: signed in September 1787, it was ratified between December and May 1790 by the first 13 states. ITS PRESENT TRANSLATION HAD INFLUENCE IN FRANCE ON BOISSY D'ANGLAS, ONE OF THE PRINCIPAL DRAFTERS OF THE FRENCH CONSTITUTION OF YEAR III (Directoire). ONE OF THE "FOUNDING FATHERS" OF THE UNITED STATES, FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT (1789-1797) AND SECOND PRESIDENT (1797-1801), JOHN ADAMS (1735-1826) began his career as a lawyer in Boston, where he was an early opponent of England's policy towards its American colonies, and a regular contributor to public debate as a publicist and member of the Massachusetts Colonial House. As a delegate to both Continental Congresses, he convinced his colleagues to organize armed struggle under George Washington against English colonial rule, and helped draft the Declaration of Independence. He went on to fulfill diplomatic missions as ambassador to Holland (1780),