“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”— John Adams, letter to the Massachusetts Militia, October 11, 1798

Why John Adams Saw Avarice, Ambition, Revenge, and Gallantry as Dangerous

Adams listed avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry as dangerous human passions that, if left unchecked, would destroy a free constitutional government. He wasn’t using the words the way we often do today.

Here’s what each meant in his 18th-century context:

Avarice

This is straightforward. It means greedy, insatiable desire for wealth. Adams (and most classical and Christian thinkers of his era) saw it as a corrosive vice that puts private gain above the public good and justice.

Ambition

This is the one that feels most different from modern usage.

Today we often treat ambition as a positive trait — drive, grit, the desire to achieve and improve. In Adams’ political vocabulary, however, “ambition” usually meant the lust for power, rank, and dominance. It was the restless desire to rise above others, seize offices, control people, or gain personal glory at the expense of the common good.

Adams believed this passion was natural to human beings, but extremely dangerous when unrestrained. He repeatedly warned that avarice and ambition were deeply rooted in people and would constantly threaten republican government. A healthy “love of fame” or desire for honorable distinction could be directed toward public service; raw ambition could not. That is the version he is warning against here.

Revenge

This means personal vengeance rather than justice under law. Adams saw it as the opposite of a legal order — the impulse to settle scores privately, which produces feuds, violence, and the breakdown of civil society.

Gallantry

This is the most archaic-sounding of the four. In this specific context it does not mean bravery or polite courtesy.

In late-18th-century usage (especially when listed among vices), “gallantry” referred to amorous intrigue, seduction, and sexual license — the stylish pursuit of women as conquests. Some manuscript versions of Adams’ letter even substitute the word “licentiousness,” which confirms the meaning. It was another strong passion that, left unbridled, undermined personal and public virtue.

Why Adams Grouped Them Together as Threats

Adams’s core point was about the nature of free government.

A constitution like America’s deliberately limits the power of government. It does not give rulers the absolute force that kings or despots use to control people. Therefore the system only works if the citizens themselves possess strong internal restraints — morality and religion. Without those restraints, the natural passions of avarice, ambition, revenge, and gallantry would simply overwhelm the formal rules of the Constitution.

In short: he was not attacking healthy drive or courage. He was warning that certain deep human passions, when they become dominant and unrestrained by virtue, are incompatible with lasting self-government.

I’m Kurt Aspland, an artist, teacher, and father who draws and paints while studying the foundations of our country. I found this quote from John Adams foundational because it cuts straight to the heart of what makes our system work. A free people can only remain free if they govern themselves from the inside — with moral character and religious conviction. Without that, even the best written Constitution will eventually fail. This truth still matters deeply today.