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Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

TO THE GOVERNOR AND THE LEGISLATURE OF CONNECTICUT. - John Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. 9 (Letters and State Papers 1799-1811) [1854]

Edition used:

The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: with a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations, by his Grandson Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1856). 10 volumes. Vol. 9.

Part of: The Works of John Adams, 10 vols.

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TO THE GOVERNOR AND THE LEGISLATURE OF CONNECTICUT.

Gentlemen,

An address so affectionate and respectful carries with it a dignity and authority, which is the more honorable to me as it comes from a legislature, which, although not in the habit of interfering in the administration of the general government, has exhibited a uniform affection for the national Constitution, and an undeviating respect to the laws and constituted authorities.

There can never be a time when it will be more necessary for the nation to express the sentiments by which it is animated, than when it is deeply injured by lawless aggressions, and insulted by imperious claims of a foreign power, professing to confide in our disunion, and boasting of the means of severing the affections of our citizens from the government of their choice.

Your approbation of the conduct and measures of government, and assurances of a firm and hearty support, are of great and high importance, and demand my most respectful and grateful acknowledgments.

With you I cherish our independence, revere the names, the virtues, and the sufferings of our ancestors, and admire the resolution, that the inestimable gift of civil and religious freedom shall never be impaired in our hands, and that no sacrifice of blood or treasure shall be esteemed too dear to transmit the precious inheritance to posterity.

I return my most fervent wishes for your personal happiness, and the peace and the honor of the nation, committing all, with all their interests, to the God of our fathers.

John Adams.