"no good government but what is republican... the very definition of a republic is 'an empire of laws, and not of men.'" (Adams, "Thoughts on Government" January, 1776)
"Among every people and in every species of republics, we have constantly found a first magistrate, a head, a chief, under various denominations, indeed, and with different degrees of authority..." (Adams, _Defence of the Constitutions..._ (1787) in Works, IV, 358-60, 579, 462, 474, V:108, VI:108)
"if it is heresy, I shall, I suppose, be cast out of communion. But it is the only sense in which I am or ever was a Republican, and in such times I hold the concealment of sentiments to be no better than countenancing sedition." (Adams to Franklin with copy of Defence, 27 Jan, 1787 in Works of BF, ed. Bigelow, NY, 1904, XI, 298-99)
"The doctrine of *imperium in imperio* is a solecism, a contradiction in terms [...] not a confederation of independent Republicks [...] a monarchical republic [...] I find that I... shall soon be pronounced *hostis republicani generis*." (Adams to James Lovell, 4 June, 1789 in Adams Papers Microfilm, Reel 115 and Works, VIII, p. 493)
"In the first place, what is your definition of republic? Mine is this: A government whose sovereignty is vested in more than one person." (Adams to Sherman 17 July, 1789 in Works VI:428) | by: | John Adams
(1735-1826) Founding Father, 2nd US President |
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