Essay on the Canon and Feudal Law by John Adams

John Adams, born in Braintree, Massachusetts on October 30, 1735, was the second president of the United States and served as the first vice president of the United States. Adams began his education in a common school in Braintree. He secured a scholarship to Harvard and graduated at the age of 20. He was one of the Founding Fathers of America, and was a political leader, diplomat, and leading promoter of America independence from Britain. He also promoted republicanism and a strong central government. He was a lifelong adversary of slavery; he never owned a slave. John Adams was more remarkable as a political philosopher than as a politician. “People and nations are forged in the fires of adversity,” he said, thinking of his own as well as the American experience (The White House).
Before his presidency, Adams took part in many of the historical events that marked this country. He became a prominent figure in his activities against the Stamp Act, which he wrote and published a popular article “Essay on the Canon and Feudal Law” (Ushistory.org). Word had arrived in Boston that Parliament was planning to pass a stamp tax, which was the first direct tax on the colonies, unless the colonies taxed themselves to help raise the needed revenue to pay off the war debt. The colonies, however, did not tax themselves. On March 8, 1765, the Stamp Act passed both houses of Parliament. It provided for a tax to be specified by a stamp on legal documents, newspapers, licenses, and other printed matter. Once the Stamps arrived to Boston, they were detained and burned. The people rushed in the streets saying, “No taxation without representation!” (Cowley 21-22).
John Adams’ essay, “A dissertation on Canon and Feudal Law”, was an “impassioned ...

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... in this position (Ferling 316-322).
As stated earlier, Adams was a Federalist, which made him a rival to Thomas Jefferson and his Republican Party. The disagreements between them carried on through Adams’ presidency and even Jefferson’s. The struggle was over the office’s environment and “the limits of Federal power over the state governments and individual citizens” (Ushistory.org).

Works Cited

Cowley, Joseph. John Adams: Architect of Freedom. New York: IUniverse, 2009. Print.
Ferling, John E. John Adams: A Life. Newtown, Conn: American Political Biography, 1996. Print.
"John Adams." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, 4 July 1995. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
"John Adams." The White House. The White House, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
Shea, Marilyn. "John Adams -- A Defence of the Constitutions of Government." Reading Revolutions. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.