Although John Adams' achievement in later years tended to supersede his diplomatic service, the latter was of major importance in the history of the United States. This study will deal primarily with Adams' mission to the Netherlands, 1780-1782: its causes, objectives, and accomplishments with a treatment of the diplomatic background surrounding his efforts in the Dutch republic.

The validity of the traditional arts in contemporary society is often questioned by the wider public. This dissertation argues that one of the ways in which the arts attain value is through their function as political activism. In order to do so, it investigates the characteristics of resistance art. This is followed by a discussion of contemporary opera. While this genre is a minority interest when compared to popular music forms, it is, nevertheless, a form of resistance art that has the potential to fulfill a social and political function. The dissertation focuses on two case studies: John Adam's The Death of Klinghoffer (1990) and Paul Ruders's The Handmaid's Tale (2000), and concludes that contemporary opera can be relevant and effective socio-political critique. / Thesis (M.Mus.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

The music of John Adams (b. 1947) exemplifies a reinvestment in traditional instrumental genres and musical values that began to take place in contemporary music in the late 1970s and early '80s. His Harmonielehre for orchestra (1984-85) meets many of the conditions of the symphonic genre, including its scoring for full orchestral forces, its multi-movement structure, its presentation of contrary, dialectical melodic gestures, and its dramatic thematic and harmonic conflict. It is thus ironic that Adams would title his composition after a treatise written by Arnold Schoenberg, a figure whose break from the musical past inspired many of the complex and experimental musical models that arose between the publication of his own Harmonielehre (1911, rev. 1922) and that of Adams. But to conclude that Adams' composition is a statement about tonality is perhaps over-simplistic. Examination of the two works reveals more similarities between the composers' artistic philosophies than differences. This dissertation is an attempt to expose these similarities in order to discover the motivations behind Adams' curious decision to title his composition after Schoenberg's treatise, and to gain a deeper understanding of the artistic priorities shared by both composers that arises from the interrelationship between their respective Harmonielehren. Adams' title is partly a marker of the types of Romantic-era stylizations that pervade his score. But I argue that the relationship between the two Harmonielehren is not merely cursory. Prevalent themes within Schoenberg's prose can inform the analysis and interpretation of Adams' composition. Adams draws on Schoenberg's treatise as a signifier of his creative identification, one that both complements and departs from the creative model presented in Schoenberg's text. Both Harmonielehren confront the aesthetic expectations of their individual times and places, but while Schoenberg centers his creative identification in a discourse of restless inquiry into new materials and models of musical expression, Adams seemingly subscribes to Schoenberg's presentation of composition as craft, as the working-with and fitting-together-of the pre-existing sound vocabularies of music.

This thesis explores the influence of Alexander Hamilton upon the administration of John Adams. It begins with the background of the conflict between Adams and Hamilton, continues through Adam's presidency and ends with the "death of the Federalist party."

Thesis advisor: Alan Rogers / Thesis advisor: Brendan McConville / The Massachusetts Constitution is the oldest active constitution in the world — it has been in effect for 228 years. While the state has amended the original document many times since its passage, its essential provisions, which have remained largely unaltered, are undoubtedly the work of a single man — John Adams. John Adams, routinely neglected among scholars, is essential to the development of American political thought. The purpose of this study is to put a magnifying glass on two important aspects of John Adams's life and give them the detailed study that they deserve: his legal career and its impact on the Massachusetts Constitution. The link between his legal career and his political theory is crucial to understanding that document. To write about John Adams's political thought without understanding the two-decade long legal career that drove so much of it leaves one with only a shallow understanding of how that thought developed. It was through the study of numerous legal authors along with his reflection and experiences as an attorney that Adams came to understand how vital the law was for a nation. Indeed, for Adams, law was the basis for good government itself, "to the end that it may be a government of laws and not of men." / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History. / Discipline: History Honors Program. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Thesis (M.Mus.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

The validity of the traditional arts in contemporary society is often questioned by the wider public. This dissertation argues that one of the ways in which the arts attain value is through their function as political activism. In order to do so, it investigates the characteristics of resistance art. This is followed by a discussion of contemporary opera. While this genre is a minority interest when compared to popular music forms, it is, nevertheless, a form of resistance art that has the potential to fulfill a social and political function. The dissertation focuses on two case studies: John Adam's The Death of Klinghoffer (1990) and Paul Ruders's The Handmaid's Tale (2000), and concludes that contemporary opera can be relevant and effective socio-political critique. / Thesis (M.Mus.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

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The issue of anti-Semitism in John Adams’s 1991 opera, The Death of Klinghoffer, has been widely discussed by scholars such as Richard Taruskin, Robert Fink, and others. For instance, Taruskin asserts that Adams favors the Palestinians through musical grandiosity and by describing them as “men of ideals.” However, this fails to consider the possibility that Adams intended to portray an evenhanded view of diverse religious groups. Through close readings of the libretto and select numbers from Klinghoffer, such as the “Chorus of Exiled Palestinians,” the “Chorus of Exiled Jews,” and the “Aria of the Falling Body,” my thesis maintains that Adams treats both sides equally. Although he depicts each group differently through a contrasting approach to text, orchestration, and texture, he nevertheless does not favor one group over the other. Additionally, a close reading of the “Aria of the Falling Body” provides Adams’s possible solution to this conflict – reconciliation between religious communities. Adams does so through portraying Leon Klinghoffer as a scapegoat. This aria is sung by Leon Klinghoffer’s body after he is sacrificed by the Palestinian hijackers – his sacrifice ensured the safety of the remaining passengers on board. Adams thus presents Klinghoffer as religious commentary – not only by vividly depicting the warring religious communities – but also by offering a solution to a centuries-old conflict.

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