A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America

The first edition of the Founding Father's major work, written in haste while he served as Ambassador to Great Britain. Adams, regarded as a Federalist though not fully of that party, argued that a complex and balanced government was needed to guard against the tyranny that might result from direct democracy as well as monarchy. The John Beckley (1757–1807) whose neat signature adorns the title page was a political opponent: Beckley attacked the Federalists in print and campaigned for Thomas Jefferson during the 1796 presidential election, which Jefferson lost to Adams. The new government replaced Beckley as Clerk of the House of Representatives, though he was reinstated when Jefferson won four years later. Jefferson also appointed Beckley, who had arrived in the colonies at the age of eleven as an indentured servant, as the first Librarian of Congress. The city of Beckley in West Virginia is named after him.

A handsome association copy that must have been read by its notoriously partisan owner with gritted teeth.