John Adams: "Letters of Novanglus" - Milestone Documents

John Adams: “Letters of Novanglus”

( 1775 ) Commentary by Richard Alan Ryerson, Ph.D.
  • “Our provincial legislatures are the only supreme authorities in our colonies.… And here is a line fairly drawn between the rights of Britain and the rights of the colonies, namely, the banks of the [Atlantic] ocean.” - “Letters of Novanglus”
  • “The British constitution is nothing more nor less than a republic, in which the king is first magistrate. This office being hereditary … is no objection to the government 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.” - “Letters of Novanglus”
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John Adams (Library of Congress)

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