THE SOCIAL COMPACT, EXEMPLIFIED IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS; WITH REMARKS ON THE THEORIES OF DIVINE RIGHT OF HOBBES AND OF FILMER, AND THE COUNTER THEORIES OF SIDNEY, LOCKE, MONTESQUIEU, AND ROUSSEAU, CONCERNING THE ORIGIN AND
Adams, John Quincy:
Providence: Knowles and Vose, 1842. 32pp. Modern half morocco and cloth, spine gilt. Titlepage and final text leaf strengthened in gutter. Titlepage a bit soiled. Very good. A substantial address on political philosophy by the former president, in which John Quincy Adams considers the origins of democracy, aristocracy, and universal suffrage. He begins with a consideration of the Massachusetts constitution, which his father, John Adams, had done so much to craft in 1780: "the body politic is formed by a social compact in which the whole people covenants with each citizen and each citizen with the whole people." John Quincy Adams then goes on to criticize the ideas of Hobbes and Filmer, arguing that governments are not formed through coercion but voluntarily and by mutual consent, and that man is a social being who naturally seeks unions and relationships. Adams delivered his remarks at the Franklin Lyceum in Providence on Nov. 25, 1842, toward the end of his lengthy service in the U.S. House of Representatives and his life. Scarce on the market. SABIN 302.
(Item ID: WRCAM39416) $1,250.00