The Novanglus Essays

The Novanglus Essays—
Background of the American Revolution

 
John Adams, under the signature of Novanglus, published a series of essays in Boston just prior to the start of the armed conflict in America. An answer to the Massachusettensis essays, Adams laid out the American position on the natural rights of individual Americans and the rights enjoyed by all colonial governments under British law.

• No. I.—January 23, 1775.
• No. II.—January 30, 1775.
• No. III.—February 6, 1775.
• No. IV.—February 13, 1775.
• No. V.—February 20, 1775.
• No. VI.—February 27, 1775.
• No. VII.—March 6, 1775.
• No. VIII.—March 13, 1775.
• No. IX.—March 27, 1775.
• No. X.—April 3, 1775.
• No. XI.—April 10, 1775.
• No. XII.—April 17, 1775.
• Britain chooses conquest.—April 19, 1775.