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Adams ranked state constitutions and foreign treaties above any declaration in defining independence

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tagsja-picks, xref, question, causal_relationships, trade, singleton, category/causal-relationships

2 min read

Adams ranked state constitutions and foreign treaties above any declaration in defining independence

Evidence

Then, on May 10, Adams joined with other pro-independence delegates to secure a one-sentence resolution from Congress urging all colonies “to adopt such government as shall, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular, and America in general.” By these words, the authors of the resolution meant governments independent of British authority and whose officers did not pledge their allegiance to the king. … If “this is not Independency,” Adams asked his wife in an April letter about these two measures, “What is?” True to form, he answered his own question. “Why,” Adams answered, independence is a republican “Government in every Colony, a Confederation among them all, and Treaties with foreign Nations, to acknowledge Us as a Sovereign State.” He did not include a declaration of independence in this list but soon added, “Such a Declaration may be necessary, in order to obtain a foreign Alliance.” For Adams, independence meant new state constitutions, confederation, and foreign recognition. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 164

Categorization

  • XREF: Reveals the founders’ own hierarchy of legal first principles — a declaration was instrumental to foreign alliance, not an end in itself. Directly usable for the course’s question of what the founders meant by ‘freedom’ and ‘independence’ as legal categories. — connects to: Legal independence required constitutions, confederation, and foreign treaties, not just a declaration — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 267; The Declaration of Independence is the constitutional ground authorizing the Constitution — Philip Chase Bobbitt, Reflections Inspired by My Critics, 476; Jefferson valued drafting good state constitutions over declaring independence itself — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 190
  • QUESTION: Why did Adams rank a declaration below state constitutions and confederation? The causal logic — legal instruments for sovereignty rather than rhetorical claims — is worth probing against how the Declaration later got sacralized.

Broader Connections

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