Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 9

13. This and the paragraphs that follow on the progress of civilization were likely derived and expanded from what Pownall had written in Administration (p. 3–4). But they should also be compared with JA's “Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law” (vol. 1:103–128). There JA had written of the effect that freedom from the archaic European social, religious, and political system had had on American development. It is likely that one reason that JA was drawn to the Memorial was the similarity between Pownall's senti• {p. 193} ments and his own regarding the legacy of the “Clergy” and “feudal Lords.” Such a conclusion is supported by JA's letter to Edmund Jenings on 20 April (below), in which he requested Jenings to obtain for him a copy of a previous English edition of the “Dissertation” and to seek its republication.