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Thoughts on Government, or in full Thoughts on Government, Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies, was written by John Adams during the spring of 1776 in response to a resolution of the North Carolina Provincial Congress which requested Adams's suggestions on the establishment of a new government and the drafting of a constitution. Adams says that "Politics is the Science of human Happiness -and the Felicity of Societies depends on the Constitutions of Government under which they live." Many of the ideas put forth in Adams's essay were adopted in December 1776 by the framers of North Carolina's first constitution.

Origins of the American Revolution: writings

American resolves, declarations, petitions, essays and pamphlets prior to the Declaration of Independence (July 1776)

Following the
Stamp Act (1765)

Virginia Resolves (May 1765) • Declaration of Rights and Grievances (October 1765) • An Inquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies (1766)

Following the
Townshend Acts (1767)

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania (1767) • Massachusetts Circular Letter (February 1768) • Boston Pamphlet (1772) • Sheffield Declaration (January 1773)

Following the
Coercive Acts (1774)

Maryland	Chestertown Resolves (May 1774) • Bush River Resolution (March 1775)

Massachusetts	Suffolk Resolves (September 1774)

New York	Orangetown Resolutions (July 1774)

North Carolina	Mecklenburg Resolves or Declaration (May 1775) • Liberty Point Resolves (June 1775) • Tryon Resolves (August 1775) • Halifax Resolves (April 1776)

Virginia	Fairfax Resolves (July 1774) • Hanover Resolves (July 1774) • Fincastle Resolutions (January 1775) • Virginia Declaration of Rights (June 1776)

1st Continental Congress	Declaration and Resolves (October 1774) • Continental Association (October 1774) • Petition to the King (October 1774)

2nd Continental Congress	Olive Branch Petition (July 1775) • Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms (July 1775) • Lee Resolution (July 1776)

Essays and pamphlets

A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774) • Novanglus (1775) • Common Sense (1776) • Thoughts on Government (1776)

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Thoughts on Government

[edit] External links

Thoughts on Government at Online Library of Liberty

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoughts_on_Government"

Categories: 1776 books | Books in political philosophy | Constitutional law | Documents of the American Revolution | Essays