A Social Contract: John Qunicy Adams.

 

A Social Contract: John Quincy Adams.

 

    Headlines aside, there is something to be said for understanding the mentality of our Founding Fathers (and their children). A cursory literary review shows a longstanding debate that contrasts a secular against an orthodox analysis. The historiography would challenge a researcher to decide whether to shape their analysis towards a group of men making public policy in service of God, or a group of men that were making public policy in service of their country.

     Historically, intent is always something that is challenging to discern. John Qunicy Adam’s Lecture regarding the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and its social compact highlights this challenge. Candidly, what is unique about John Quincy Adams’ message is that he chooses to tackle directly “divine rights” and the leading philosophers of the age’s thoughts. John Quincy Adams’ lends credit to both Sidney and Locke for influencing the America’s Declaration of Independence with their thoughts on natural rights. 

A direct descendent of a founding farther and former President of the United States is granted arguable a significant amount of latitude, but in this case, Adams’ seems determined to leverage his credibility to show a focus on a logical Christian based world view. Specifically in this lecture, John Quincy Adams’ foreshadows a modern problem that arguably applies today.

 

"We are divided into parties-warm and bitter parties, which are not necessarily, but are very apt to generate into factions. One of the properties common to all parties and symptomatic of a tendency to generate into faction, is the assumption to themselves, of a popular name, and branding their adversaries with an odious one."

 

    John Quincy Adams’ seemingly understood intuitively the friction that interpersonal skills could create and was appealing his peers and intended audience to focus on a Christian, biblical world view that differ from the typical socio-economic ideals that  (Democrats, Aristocrats, and Monarchs). The distinction of a republic versus a democracy was critical for Adams to question because it helped deliver Christian values from a leadership position.

             

 

 

Adams, John Quincy, and Franklin Lyceum. The social compact : exemplified in the Constitution of the commonwealth of Massachusetts : with remarks on the theories of divine right of Hobbes and of Filmer and the counter theories of Sidney, Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau, concerning the origin and nature of government. Providence: Knowles and Vose, Printers, 1842. Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926 (accessed June 2, 2024). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0102788835/SABN?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=72af7f0d&pg=1.