Diary of John Adams, volume 3
Interest, Corruption, Prejudice, Error, Ignorance. Causes of wrong Judgments.
Have not these Causes, as much Influence in one Assembly as in two? If either or all of these Causes should prevail, over Reason, Justice, and the public good in one Assembly, is not a Revision of the Subject in another a probable means of correcting the false decree?
The notes or reflections which follow were written in pencil on the verso of the Diary leaf which has the entry of 25 Jan. 1790 on its recto. There is no other clue to their date, and their substance is so perfectly typical of JA's political thought that it does not suggest the occasion of his putting them down on paper.