Compare the political views of Alexander Hamilton and John Adams for creating a national government during the Constitutional Convention.

First of all, please note that John Adams was not present
at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 as he was ambassador to Great Britain at the
time.  However, his political writings give us some ideas as to his thoughts on the
issues.

Both Hamilton and Adams believed in republican
forms of government in which the power was kept to some extent from the people.  In this
sense, they were both Federalists.  One difference between the two of them is that
Hamilton saw less of a need for separation of powers.  For example, he suggested a
system with an executive who would have been elected for life and would have had an
absolute veto over legislation.  This was in contrast to Adams's writings, which
stressed the need for checks and balances and separation of powers to prevent
tyranny.