John Adams had been ruminating about the structure of government and how to build it since at least 1765, when he wrote “A Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law.” He did not find inspiration in the bible: “Let us study the law of nature; search into the spirit of the British constitution; read the histories of ancient ages; contemplate the great examples of Greece and Rome; set before us the conduct of our own British ancestors, who have defended for us the inherent rights of mankind against foreign and domestic tyrants and usurpers, against arbitrary kings and cruel priests, in short,
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