TAILIEUCHUNG - A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law

Early in 1765 John Adams began writing an essay on the history of ecclesiastical and civil despotism for the Sodality, a private club of Boston lawyers. His purpose was to contrast the tyranny of the canon and feudal law against New England’s heroic struggle for freedom. He soon decided to expand and publish his “Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law” when he learned of Parliament’s approval of the Stamp Act in March 1765. In his diary, Adams described the Stamp Act as an “enormous Engine, fabricated by the british Parliament, for battering down all the Rights and Liberties. | a Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law Early in 1765 John Adams began writing an essay on the history of ecclesiastical and civil despotism for the Sodality a private club of Boston lawyers. His purpose was to contrast the tyranny of the canon and feudal law against New England s heroic struggle for freedom. He soon decided to expand and publish his Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law when he learned of Parliament s approval of the Stamp Act in March 1765. In his diary Adams described the Stamp Act as an enormous Engine fabricated by the british Parliament for battering down all the Rights and Liberties of America. The Dissertation is an essay in political education. Its larger purpose was to raise an alarm against an impending threat and to rouse the people in defense of their rights. Adams saw in the Stamp Act an early-warning signal indicating the direction of British colonial policy. It violated in two important ways the most fundamental principle of the English constitution the principle of consent. The Stamp Act denied the rights guaranteed by Magna Carta that no citizen shall be deprived of his property or taxed without his consent and it extended juryless courts of admiralty into the American colonies. When combined with the recently passed Sugar Act the Stamp Act permitted the transfer of revenue enforcement from regular common-law courts to the newly empowered admiralty courts. In Adams s eyes this meant that unconstitutional courts would now enforce unconstitutional taxes. He concludes rather ominously by suggesting that there was a direct and formal design on foot to enslave all America. 20 2 A Dissertation on THE Canon and Feudal Law Ignorance and inconsideration are the two great causes of the ruin of mankind. This is an observation of Dr. Tillotson with relation to the interest of his fellow men in a future and immortal state. But it is of equal truth and importance if applied to the happiness of men in society on this side the grave. In the

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