Knowing Our Place
Knowing Our Place is a series of reflections by Arthur Mullen, exploring the layered history of New Haven, through architecture, adaptive reuse, civic memory, and the meaning embedded in physical places. Moving through forgotten buildings, public spaces, landscapes, and historical moments, the series uses the story of one city to ask larger questions about identity, democracy, community, and what it means to belong somewhere. Through history, preservation, and observation, we examine how the places we inherit continue shaping the people we become.
Knowing Our Place
John Adams, Roger Sherman, and the Unitary Executive Theory
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In 1789, Roger Sherman pushed back against fears that America’s new government would drift toward aristocracy. Corresponding with John Adams, Sherman argued instead for a system of shared power, where the Senate anchors the republic, the states remain vital, and the executive is guided, not unchecked. Their exchange sheds light on a founding tension that remains unresolved: how to balance authority, accountability, and trust in a democracy.