Item #WRCAM50028A A DEFENCE OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AGAINST THE ATTACK OF M. TURGOT IN HIS LETTER TO DR. PRICE, DATED THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY OF MARCH, 1778. John Adams.
A DEFENCE OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AGAINST THE ATTACK OF M. TURGOT IN HIS LETTER TO DR. PRICE, DATED THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY OF MARCH, 1778.

A DEFENCE OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AGAINST THE ATTACK OF M. TURGOT IN HIS LETTER TO DR. PRICE, DATED THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY OF MARCH, 1778.

Philadelphia. 1797. Three volumes. 6,xxxiii,[3]-392; [4],451; [2],528,[44]pp. Antique-style half calf and marbled boards, spines gilt, leather labels. Contemporary ownership inscription on titlepage of first volume, later institutional blind stamps on titlepages. Light tanning and an occasional fox mark. Very good. In a three-quarter morocco and cloth clamshell box. Item #WRCAM50028A

Styled the "third edition." The first volume was originally published in London in 1787. The second and third volumes, issued later than the first, contain descriptions of the Italian republics of the Middle Ages as well as a lengthy analysis of "the Right Constitution of a Commonwealth." This work is one of the most important and widely read of the many writings of the important Revolutionary figure and second president of the United States. At the time Adams wrote this work he was serving as the first United States ambassador in England, an uncomfortable position for a recent rebel, but he was ever ready to argue the American point of view. Herein he forcibly states the principles on which he perceived the United States to be founded. The book was popular and went through numerous editions. Its issuance as the Federal Constitutional Convention was assembling added to its popularity and resulted in several American reprintings, and according to the DAB, "its timeliness gave it vogue." Adams' detractors later sought to find in it a hidden desire for a monarchy. HOWES A60, "aa." EVANS 31689-31691. SABIN 235. GEPHART 8687. REESE, FEDERAL HUNDRED 11 (ref).

Price: $6,750.00

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