Interviewees:
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Sara Martin
- Editor in Chief, The Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society
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Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai
- Peter Drummey Chief Historian, Massachusetts Historical Society
John Adams dominated Massachusetts's role in the path to independence. Dubbed the “Atlas of Independence” in Congress, he steered fellow delegates toward the vote for separation. As delegates returned to their home colonies in the spring of 1776 to organize state governments, they repeatedly asked Adams's opinion on model constitutions, prompting him to put his views to press in Thoughts on Government. Built on annual elections, a bicameral legislature, a strong executive, and an independent judiciary, his framework of checks and balances quietly rippled through the state constitutions of the mid-1770s and foreshadowed the federal Constitution itself.
