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Front Page > Reading Lists > John Adams and the French Debate the American Constitution

John Adams and the French Debate the American Constitution

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Liberty Fund Staff

Liberty Fund, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

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The creation of the U.S. Constitution in 1787 stirred considerable debate not only in America, but across the Atlantic in England and France as well. Among the supporters of the American colonists’ resistance to Britain, some viewed it as a first step in reforming the British constitution (Edmund Burke), while others as the beginning of something entirely new, a democratic republic (Thomas Paine and the “friends of liberty”).

When the French Revolution broke out in 1789 there was a simliar split among those who sought a constitutional monarchy, limited by a written consitution, including a bill of rights and those who sought to abolish the monarchy altogether and establish a democratic republic of whatever color.

The American experience was both timely and a-propos as France was wracked by revolution, regicide, and war, and underwent multiple experiments in constitutionalism during the 1790s. In response, English, American, and French observers explored the nature of the British “constitution” as it had evolved between the Glorious Revolution and the American revolt, American efforts to reform and ultimately rewrite the British “constitution,” French efforts to duplicate the experiment within continental Europe, and finally, the collapse of the French republic and the rise of Napoleon. The debates of the 1780s and 1790s follow these political developments and parallel contemporary efforts to define constitutional limits to state power.

[Comment: I’ve reworked this somewhat, a little streamlining. Perhaps the long penultimate sentence should be broken-up or clarified. For example, were the Americans trying to “reform” or “rewrite” the British constitution, or simply resist British encroachments and ultimately achieve independence? In any case, the documents selected suggest the later. Also, the reference to the debates of the 1790s is not reflected in the reading list, which ends with Adams’ Defence of 1788. Finally, the title of the list does not seem to fully capture its content, given the presence De Lolme (on the English constitution) and Turgot (on the state constitutions). Moreover, the Defence was written before the U.S. Constitution was drafted and ratified. Just some thoughts. I’ve also made some slight alterations to the descriptions of the readings. Some could be developed further, but this may be sufficient for now.]

The following texts are listed in chronological order of original publication, along with modern editions (where these are available), and relevant page numbers to the editions used in the original colloquium. It is based upon a conference originally organized by Liberty Fund and the Institute for Humane Studies in January 1987:

1) Jean-Louis de Lolme, Constitution de l’Angleterre ou État du gouvernement anglais comparé avec la forme républicaine et avec les autres monarchies de l’Europe (Amsterdam, 1771) and the original 1775 English edition, published in London as The Constitution of England; or, an Account of the English Government; in which it is compared with the Republican Form of Government and occasionally with the Other Monarchies in Europe.

2) Abbé de Mably, Remarks concerning the Government and Laws of the United States of America: In Four Letters addressed to Mr. Adams (1785).

3) Condorcet, De l’influence de la Révolution d’Amérique sur l’Europe (1786)

4) Filippo Mazzei, Recherches historiques et politiques sur les États-Unis de l’Amérique septentrionale, où l’on traite des établissemens des treize colonies, de leurs rapports & de leurs dissentions avec la Grande-Bretagne, de leurs gouvernemens avant & après la révolution, &c. Par un citoyen de Virginie (Paris, Chez Froulle, 1788).

5) John Adams, A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 3 vols. (London and Boston, Edmund Freeman, 1787-88, 3rd. edition 1797).

6) Letters between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.

For additional background reading see: