"I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And by the way, in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation. That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend. Why, then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity? Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your sex; regard us then as Beings placed by Providence under your protection, and in imitation of the Supreme Being make use of that power only for our happiness."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Unitarians from the United StatesPeople from MassachusettsWomen born before the 19th centuryFeminists from the United StatesUnited States First ladies
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Letter to John Adams (31 March 1776), published in Familiar Letters of John Adams and his wife Abigail Adams (1875) edited by Charles Francis Adams, p. 147
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abigail_Adams
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Abigail Adams
Abigail Smith Adams (November 11, 1744 – October 28, 1818) was the wife of John Adams, the second president of the United States, and is retrospectively perceived as the second First Lady of the United States; the term was not coined until after she had died. She was also the mother of John Quincy Adams.
29 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Abigail Adams →
Related Quotes
"Deliver me from your cold phlegmatic preachers, politicians, friends, lovers and husbands."
"If you complain of neglect of Education in sons, what shall I say with regard to daughters, who every day experience …"
"We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them."
"I wish most sincerely there was not a slave in this province. It always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me — to …"
"How difficult the task to quench the fire and the pride of private ambition, and to sacrifice ourselves and all our h…"
"I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature; and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ev…"
"The reins of government have been so long slackened, that I fear the people will not quietly submit to those restrain…"
"I feel anxious for the fate of our monarchy, or democracy, or whatever is to take place. I soon get lost in a labyrin…"
"Shall we be despised by foreign powers for hesitating so long at a word?"
"I can not say that I think you very generous to the Ladies, for Whilst you are proclaiming peace and good will to men…"