A bulwark of American history, the American revolution most likely would not have succeeded without the support of John Adams. An outstanding philosopher in his own right, Adams wrote a comprehensive and systematic defense of the republican form of government. In this essay, John Paynter examines Defense of American Constitutions and Discourses on Davila by Adams. This article explains, as concisely as possible, the systematic justification for a republican government and the reasons that John Adams and his fellow Founding Fathers placed liberty as the tantamount goal of government.