“[John Adams] diary, of course, is even more revealing of his feelings. Both his letters to [his wife] Abigail and his diary tell us what he really thinks about people and events.” PeopleThinkingFeelingsCoursesWifeEventsLettersRevealingDiariesAbigail Author:Gordon S. Wood
“Creating senates, the French critics said, implied that there was another social order besides the people represented in the houses of representatives. [John] Adams actually agreed with that implication and argued that the aristocracy and the people had to have separate houses; this was the only way the power of the aristocracy could be contained.” PeopleWaySaidOrderHouseSocialCreatingCriticsSenateRepresentativesImplicationsAristocracySocial OrderImpliedHouse Of Representatives Author:Gordon S. Wood
“It was [John's Adams] Massachusetts constitution if anything that influenced people.” PeopleIfsConstitutionMassachusetts Author:Gordon S. Wood
“[ Massachusetts constitution] was [John Adams] attempt to justify that structure by the traditional notion of social estates - that the executive represented the monarchical estate, the senate the aristocratic estate, and the house of representatives the estate of the people.” PeopleHouseSocialConstitutionStructureNotionTraditionalJustifyExecutivesSenateRepresentativesEstatesMassachusettsHouse Of RepresentativesAristocratic Author:Gordon S. Wood
“This rationale, which justified the mixed constitution of Great Britain, might have made some sense in 1776, but by 1787 most American thinkers had come to believe that all parts of their balanced governments represented in one way or another the sovereign people. They had left the Aristotelian idea of mixed estates - monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy - way behind. [John] Adams had not, and his stubbornness on this point caused him no end of trouble.” PeopleWayBelieveMadeIdeasEndsGovernmentMightLeftBehindsDemocracyTroubleConstitutionOne WayBritainThinkerBalancedEstatesSovereignJustifiedMonarchyAristocracyStubbornnessGreat BritainRationale Author:Gordon S. Wood
