“These are what are called revolution-principles. They are the principles of Aristotle and Plato, of Livy and Cicero, of Sydney, Harrington and Lock[e].—The principles of nature and eternal reason.—The principles on which the whole government over us, now stands.”
– John Adams (writing under the pen name of “Novanglus”), in a letter “To the Inhabitants of the Colony of Massachusetts-Bay, 23 January 1775”
John Adams was a great fan of the English political writer James Harrington
In 1656, the English political writer James Harrington wrote a book called “The Commonwealth of Oceana.” In this work, James Harrington advocated a republic, calling it the “ideal” form of government (or words to that effect). I should give a disclaimer that I have not read Harrington’s “Oceana,” and I don’t yet know how much I would agree with it. But it is clear that John Adams was a great fan of it. John Adams would later give great praise of both this book and its author. In 1775, Adams wrote a series of letters under the pen name of “Novanglus.” In one of these letters (the one quoted above), Adams credited Harrington with “revolution-principles.” But Adams also wrote another letter addressed “To the Inhabitants of the Colony of Massachusetts-Bay” (among others). One of them contains some more of his praise of James Harrington. Thus, I would like to quote from what John Adams said, to show how Harrington had an influence on the young John Adams.
James Harrington
In one letter, Adams quoted from Harrington’s work “The Commonwealth of Oceana” …
Writing under the aforementioned pen name of “Novanglus,” John Adams wrote in 1775: “Harrington tells us, Oceana p. 43 that ‘the commonwealth of Rome, by planting colonies of its citizens within the bounds of Italy, took the best way of propagating itself, and naturalizing the country; whereas if it had planted such colonies without the bounds of Italy, it would have alienated the citizens, and given a root to liberty abroad, that might have sprung up foreign, or savage and hostile to her; wherefore it never made any such dispersion of itself, and its strength, till it was under the yoke of the emperors, who disburdening themselves of the people, as having less apprehension of what they could do abroad than at home, took a contrary course.’” (Source: His letter “To the Inhabitants of the Colony of Massachusetts-Bay, 6 March 1775”)
John Adams
… quoting him on the subject of colonies
Later in the letter, Adams continues:
“Having mentioned the wisdom of the Romans in not planting colonies out of Italy, and their reasons for it; I cannot help recollecting an observation of Harrington, Oceana, p. 44. ‘For the colonies in the Indies,” says he, ‘they are yet babes, that cannot live without sucking the breasts of their mother cities; but such as I mistake, if when they come of age, they do not wean themselves: which causes me to wonder at princes that delight to be exhausted that way.’ This was written 120 years ago: the colonies are now nearer manhood than even Harrington foresaw they would arrive in such a period of time. Is it not astonishing then, that any British minister should ever have considered this subject so little as to believe it possible for him to new moddel all our governments, to tax us by an authority that never taxed us before, and subdue us to an implicit obedience to a legislature, that millions of us scarcely ever tho’t any thing about.
Title page of “The Commonwealth of Oceana”
The letter then continues …
“I have said that the practice of free governments alone can be quoted with propriety, to shew the sense of nations. But the sense and practice of nations is not enough. Their practice must be reasonable, just and right, or it will not govern Americans.
James Harrington
… and quotes Harrington’s comments about absolute monarchies
“Absolute monarchies, whatever their practice may be, are nothing to us. For as Harrington observes, ‘Absolute monarchy, as that of the Turks, neither plants its people at home nor abroad, otherwise than as tenants for life or at will; wherefore its national and provincial government is all one.’” (Source: Same as above)
Monument to Harrington’s parents
He notes that Harrington defined a republic as “a government of laws, and not of men”
Later in the letter, John Adams added:
“If Aristotle, Livy, and Harrington, knew what a republic was, the British constitution is much more like a republic than an empire. They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men. If this definition is just, the British constitution is nothing more nor less than a republic, in which the king is first magistrate. This office being hereditary, and being possessed of such ample and splendid prerogatives, is no objection to the government’s being a republic, as long as it is bound by fixed laws, which the people have a voice in making, and a right to defend.” (Source: Same as above)
Aristotle, whom Adams mentions above
Livy, whom Adams mentions above
Thus, John Adams put James Harrington in some very exalted company here.
In another letter, Adams says that “Harrington has shewn that power always follows property”
In 1776, John Adams wrote another letter, with this one addressed to a particular individual person. In that letter, he gave some additional praise of James Harrington. Specifically, Adams wrote in a letter that “Harrington has shewn that power always follows property. This I believe to be as infallible a maxim, in politicks, as, that action and re-action are equal, is in mechanicks. Nay I believe we may advance one step farther and affirm that the ballance of power in a society, accompanies the ballance of property in land.” (Source: Letter to James Sullivan, 26 May 1776) This letter was written just a couple of months before the United States declared its independence.
Monument to Harrington’s mother
Many decades later, Adams referred to Oceana “and other learned and ingenious works”
Many decades later, John Adams would write another letter to another person in 1814. The letter said that “Of course the book was prohibited and the writer persecuted. Harrington wrote his Oceana and other learned and ingenious works for which he was committed to prison, where he became delirious and died. Sydney wrote Discourses on Government for which he was beheaded, though they were only in manuscript and robbed from his desk. Montesquieu was obliged to fly his country, and wander about Europe for many years was compelled by the Sorbonne, after his return to sign a recantation as humiliating and as sincere, as that of Galileo. The chagrin produced by the criticism and misrepresentations of his writings and the persecutions he suffered, destroyed his health and he died in 1755.” (Source: Letter to John Taylor, 14 December 1814)
The English philosopher Algernon Sydney (also spelled “Sidney”), who is mentioned above
The French philosopher Baron de Montesquieu, also mentioned above
Adams also says that Harrington “has been called the Neuton in politicks”
The following year, the elder John Adams wrote another letter (this time to the same person) in 1815. In this letter, he added that “Harrington, whom I read forty or fifty years ago and shall quote from memory, being too old to hunt for books and fumble over the leaves of folios: has been called the Neuton in politicks and supposed to have made a great discovery, namely that mankind are governed by the teeth and that dominion is founded on property in land.” (Source: Letter to John Taylor, 16 January 1815)
John Adams
Conclusion: John Adams was a great fan of James Harrington
Thus, we know that John Adams was a great fan of the English political writer James Harrington. In the above-cited letters, he gave two or three quotations from Harrington’s 1656 magnum opus. John Adams shortens the title to “Oceana,” but the full title is James Harrington’s “The Commonwealth of Oceana.” Again, I have not yet read the book itself, but I might like to do so one day, after hearing these quotations about it from John Adams.
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