Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Love, Joy, Feminism

Home
Nonreligious
John Adams’ Response to Abigail Adams’ “Remember the Ladies” Letter Was Horrifying — and Familiar

John Adams’ Response to Abigail Adams’ “Remember the Ladies” Letter Was Horrifying — and Familiar

Last updated on: August 7, 2018 at 6:26 am by Libby Anne

John Adams’ Response to Abigail Adams’ “Remember the Ladies” Letter Was Horrifying — and Familiar 2018-08-07T06:26:02-04:00 Libby Anne

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Most of us are familiar with Abigail Adams’ letter to her husband, John, in which she urged him to “remember the ladies” when forming a government for the new United States. Most are less familiar however, I suspect, with John’s response to that letter.

It was bad. And somehow sadly familiar.

First, Abigail’s letter to John, March 31, 1776:

I long to hear that you have declared an independancy [independence was declared the following July] 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 perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, 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 immitation of the Supreem Being make use of that power only for our happiness.

It’s no wonder this letter is as well read as it is. Abigail’s words are are hard-hitting and direct, and they were penned in 1776, well over half a century before the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention. Abigail was one woke lady!

Her husband’s response, though? Her husband’s response could have been written today almost word for word—and I don’t mean that in a good way.

As to your extraordinary Code of Laws, I cannot but laugh. We have been told that our Struggle has loosened the bands of Government every where. That Children and Apprentices were disobedient — that schools and Colledges were grown turbulent — that Indians slighted their Guardians and Negroes grew insolent to their Masters. But your Letter was the first Intimation that another Tribe more numerous and powerfull than all the rest were grown discontented. — This is rather too coarse a Compliment but you are so saucy, I wont blot it out.

Depend upon it, We know better than to repeal our Masculine systems. Altho they are in full Force, you know they are little more than Theory. We dare not exert our Power in its full Latitude. We are obliged to go fair, and softly, and in Practice you know We are the subjects. We have only the Name of Masters, and rather than give up this, which would compleatly subject Us to the Despotism of the Peticoat, I hope General Washington, and all our brave Heroes would fight. I am sure every good Politician would plot, as long as he would against Despotism, Empire, Monarchy, Aristocracy, Oligarchy, or Ochlocracy. — A fine Story indeed. I begin to think the Ministry as deep as they are wicked. After stirring up Tories, Landjobbers, Trimmers, Bigots, Canadians, Indians, Negroes, Hanoverians, Hessians, Russians, Irish Roman Catholicks, Scotch Renegadoes, at last they have stimulated the to demand new Priviledges and threaten to rebell.

That’s right—he called her saucy.

Perhaps the most harshly familiar phrase in his entire letter is this line: “in Practice you know We are the subjects.” That could have been written today, by an MRA or just your random sexist man. “If you’d listen, you’d see that you’re really the ones in control,” they say. “Us poor men are basically your slaves, bringing home the bacon and doing your bidding.”

“in Practice you know We are the subjects”

John Adams wrote that. Founding father John Adams. Second president of the U.S. John Adams. Let that sit with you for a moment. That’s how old that claim is.

And yes—you read that right—John Adams, our second president, said that if men gave up their (alleged) facade of power over women, this would “completely subject Us to the Despotism of the Peticoat.” And he went further. He hoped, he said jokingly, that if this happened—if women ever threw off men’s authority—George Washington himself would rise up against this “Despotism” and lead an armed battle against those of the female sex.

For the crime of demanding their rights.

Adams went still further. He compared the “Despotism” he said would surely arise from a movement for women’s rights to the “Despotism, Empire, Monarch, Aristocracy, Olicarchy, or Ochlocracy” that he said every good politician plots against.

Did Adams honestly not see that it was the laws that deprived women of any legal autonomy and subsumed their identity into that of their husband that were the despotism? They could not vote. Did he not realize that his battle against monarchy and aristocracy were drenched in hypocrisy if he did not so much as recognize what Abigail was talking about, with regards to women’s rights (or the lack thereof)? Did no taxation without representation not apply to women?

Of course, his blindspot here was not limited to women.

We have been told that our Struggle has loosened the bands of Government every where. That Children and Apprentices were disobedient — that schools and Colledges were grown turbulent — that Indians slighted their Guardians and Negroes grew insolent to their Masters. But your Letter was the first Intimation that another Tribe more numerous and powerfull than all the rest were grown discontented.

What did Adams think of those “Indians” and “Negroes? Of those children and apprentices? Did he brush them off like he did his wife’s claim to the freedoms his revolutionary rhetoric promised? Or did he consider them more thoroughly?

Historians have identified the processes Adams points to, by the way—the trickling down of revolutionary rhetoric of freedom and equality from the aristocracy and wealthy to the common man, and beyond, and the conflict that ensued as an increasing number of groups pressed their rights over the following decades and, ultimately, centuries. In fact, tension between the monied elite and the common man was present during the revolution itself, among those waging it.

John and Abigail Adams’ letters feel incredibly real. They don’t feel outdated. They feel almost contemporary. It’s not hard to identify with the exchange, to imagine being Abigail and reading John’s letter. How did Abigail hold it together, exactly? She was clearly pretty woke. How did she deal? It wasn’t like she could just unfriend him, the way we might today.

I have a Patreon! Please support my writing!

Feminism

history

sexism

Previous Post

August 6, 2018

Your Tattoo Makes You Bait; on Evangelicals Fishing for Christ

Next Post

August 8, 2018 Remember that "Do You Live in a Bubble" Quiz you took on Facebook? It was Written by a White Supremacist.

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atheism Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism Family Feminism Homeschool Meta Parenting Patriarchy Politics Purity Quiverfull Social Justice Uncategorized Worthwhile reads

Select a Month February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What book contains the "Suffering Servant" prophecy?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Zechariah Isaiah Lamentations Jeremiah