“Unlocking Humanity: The Surprising Secret Behind What Makes Us Truly Human”
You see, while Adams may not have been ideal for the partying lifestyle and intrigues of French Court, when it came to matters of law and drawing up documents, from treaties to forming the ideal government system, few of his time could match him. Which is in large part why, despite, as Adams described himself, being “obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular,” he was nonetheless respected by his peers to an extreme degree for his brilliance, knowledge, and deep seated love of his nation and passion to try to help make it the best it could be.
Thus, a mere week after Adams’ returned to the United States, he was chosen as a delegate to help form a new Massachusetts constitution, and then quickly after this, chosen among over 300 delegates to author the thing.
Noteworthy here, just before this, a Massachusetts Constitution that had been crafted while Adams was away had been rejected by the voting populace. What’s important about this is that, in making this constitution, the legislature had gone against Adams’ previous suggestion to them that any such constitution needed to be drafted and ultimately ratified or not by a convention of delegates elected by the people, rather than drafted by the legislature and then voted on by the people. Stating, the people should “erect the whole Building with their own hands upon the broadest foundation. That this could be done only by conventions of representatives chosen by the People…”
This notion would also be critical to how the U.S. Constitution was formed. And, indeed, why the first version of the Massachusetts constitution was rejected was in part as a consequence of the flawed process of the legislature drafting the new constitution. If you guessed because the legislature coming up with a new constitution would be prone to give the legislature a disproportionate, or even total, power, you win this round of Humans Humaning Bingo.
