“Rulers are no more than attorneys, agents, and trus-tees, for the people; and if the cause, the interest and trust, is insidiously betrayed, or wantonly trifled away.
The people have a right to revoke the authority that they themselves have deputed, and to constitute abler and better agents, attorneys, and trustees.” - John Adams
Be it remembred [sic], however, that liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned, and bought it for us … but besides this they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible divine right to that most dreaded, and envied kind of knowledge, I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers.
Rulers are no more than attorneys, agents and trustees for the people; and if the cause, the interest and trust is insidiously betray’d, or wantonly trifled away, the people have a right to revoke the authority, that they themselves have deputed, and to constitute abler and better agents, attorneys and trustees. (Source)
To sum up: people have an inherent right to liberty, and if the government doesn’t fulfill its duty to protect that right, then it should be replaced. Adams basically published the core idea of the most famous paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, a decade before that document was written. He also published a document known as the “Braintree Instructions”, another response to the Stamp Act, in which he defends the idea of “no taxation without representation.”
https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1316369
Yes. Adams was THE preeminent authority on government and liberty. I’ve written a book based on his writings and have republished his three-volume work.