Happy Independence Day!
A reminder to reject tyranny.
Extract from a letter from Mrs. Abigail Adams to her husband John Adams
“I long to hear that you have declared our 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 favorable 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 are not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion and will not be 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?” (March 1776)
There is nothing I could add to Mrs. Adams' letter to make a stronger impact. We all deserve a voice in the decisions shaping our lives. From reproductive healthcare to education to housing, those most impacted must remain at the center of these conversations and, ultimately, policy decisions. To do otherwise invites, at its best, apathy and at its worst, tyranny.
If her husband had a vision for Liberty*,
I believe Abigail Adams had an even greater vision.
* “Liberty,…which has never been enjoyed, in its full Perfection, by more than ten or twelve Millions of Men at any time, since the Creation, will reign in America, over hundreds and Thousands of Millions at a Time.” ~ John Adams
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