Frases de Abigail Adams

„No puedo decir que te considere muy generoso con las mujeres, pues mientras proclamas la paz y buena voluntad entre los hombres, emancipando a todas las naciones, insistes en conservar un poder absoluto sobre las esposas. Pero debes recordar que el poder arbitrario es como la mayoría de las demás cosas que son muy difíciles, muy potentes para ser quebrantadas, y a pesar de todas tus sabias leyes y máximas, tenemos nuestro poder no sólo para liberarnos sino para dominar a nuestros amos y, sin violencia, echar ambos tu autoridad natural y legal a nuestros pies.“

—  Abigail Adams

Original: «I can not say that I think you very generous to the Ladies, for whilst you are proclaiming peace and good will to men, emancipating all nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute power over wives. But you must remember that arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken — and notwithstanding all your wise laws and maxims we have it in our power not only to free ourselves but to subdue our masters, and without violence throw both your natural and legal authority at our feet».
Fuente: Citado en Cullen-DuPont, Kathryn. American Women Activists' Writings: An Anthology, 1637-2001. Editor Cooper Square Press, 2002. ISBN 9781461698746. p. 17.
Fuente: Carta de Abigail a John Adams, Braintree, 7 de mayo de 1776.

„Me siento ansiosa por el destino de nuestra monarquía, o democracia, o lo que sea que tenga lugar. Pronto me pierdo en un laberinto de perplejidades; pero, cualquiera que sea, la justicia y la virtud son la estabilidad de nuestros tiempos, y el orden surge de la confusión. Las grandes dificultades pueden ser superadas por la paciencia y la perseverancia.“

—  Abigail Adams

Original: «I feel anxious for the fate of our monarchy, or democracy, or whatever is to take place. I soon get lost in a labyrinth of perplexities; but, whatever occurs, may justice and righteousness be the stability of our times, and order arise out of confusion. Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance».
Fuente: Adams, John. The Portable John Adams. Colaborador Jack Diggins. Editorial Penguin, 2004. ISBN 9781440650963. p. 152.
Fuente: Carta a John Adams, 27 de noviembre de 1775.

„Es realmente mortificante, señor, cuando una mujer poseída de una parte común de entendimiento considera la diferencia de educación entre el sexo masculino y el femenino, incluso en aquellas familias en las que la educación es atendida … Mejor dicho ¿por qué debería su sexo desear tal disparidad entre los que algún día pretendan ser compañeros y cómplices. Perdóneme, señor, si no puedo evitar, a veces, sospechar que esta negligencia surge en alguna medida de los estériles celos de rivales cercanos al trono.“

—  Abigail Adams

Original: «It is really mortifying, sir, when a woman possessed of a common share of understanding considers the difference of education between the male and female sex, even in those families where education is attended to... Nay why should your sex wish for such a disparity in those whom they one day intend for companions and associates. Pardon me, sir, if I cannot help sometimes suspecting that this neglect arises in some measure from an ungenerous jealousy of rivals near the throne».
Fuente: Carta a John Thaxter, 15 de febrero de 1778.

„Tenemos demasiadas palabras de gran resonancia, y muy pocas acciones que se correspondan con ellas.“

—  Abigail Adams

Original: «We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them».
Fuente: Adams, John. The Portable John Adams. Colaborador Jack Diggins. Editorial Penguin, 2004. ISBN 9781440650963. p. 144.
Fuente: Carta a John Adams, 1774.

„Las riendas del gobierno han estado tan aflojadas, que temo que el pueblo no se someta silenciosamente a las restricciones que son necesarias para la paz y la seguridad de la comunidad.“

—  Abigail Adams

Original: «The reins of government have been so long slackened, that I fear the people will not quietly submit to those restraints which are necessary for the peace and security of the community».
Fuente: The American Revolution and the Young Republic: 1763 to 1816. Autor Britannica Educational Publishing. Editor Wallenfeldt, Jeff. Editorial Britannica Educational Publishing, 2011. ISBN 9781615307166. p. 116.
Fuente: Carta a John Adams, 27 de noviembre de 1775.

„Do not grieve, my friend, my dearest friend. I am ready to go. And John, it will not be long.“

—  Abigail Adams

Last words in a letter to John Adams, as quoted in Famous Last Words (1961) by Barnaby Conrad

„I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature; and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and, like the grave, cries, “Give, give!”“

—  Abigail Adams

Letter to John Adams (27 November 1775)
Contexto: I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature; and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and, like the grave, cries, “Give, give!” The great fish swallow up the small; and he who is most strenuous for the rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the prerogatives of government. You tell me of degrees of perfection to which human nature is capable of arriving, and I believe it, but at the same time lament that our admiration should arise from the scarcity of the instances.

„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.“

—  Abigail Adams

Fuente: The Letters of John and Abigail Adams

„I begin to think, that a calm is not desirable in any situation in life.“

—  Abigail Adams

Letter to her sister, Mary Smith Cranch (1784)
Contexto: I begin to think, that a calm is not desirable in any situation in life. Every object is beautiful in motion; a ship under sail, trees gently agitated with the wind, and a fine woman dancing, are three instances in point. Man was made for action and for bustle too, I believe.

„I long to hear that you have declared an independency.“

—  Abigail Adams

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
Contexto: I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And by the way, in the 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.

„Man was made for action and for bustle too, I believe.“

—  Abigail Adams

Letter to her sister, Mary Smith Cranch (1784)
Contexto: I begin to think, that a calm is not desirable in any situation in life. Every object is beautiful in motion; a ship under sail, trees gently agitated with the wind, and a fine woman dancing, are three instances in point. Man was made for action and for bustle too, I believe.

„I wish most sincerely there was not a slave in this province.“

—  Abigail Adams

Letter to John Adams (24 September 1774)
Contexto: I wish most sincerely there was not a slave in this province. It always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me — to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have.

„If you complain of neglect of Education in sons, what shall I say with regard to daughters, who every day experience the want of it?“

—  Abigail Adams

Letter to John Adams (14 August 1776)
Contexto: If you complain of neglect of Education in sons, what shall I say with regard to daughters, who every day experience the want of it? With regard to the Education of my own children, I find myself soon out of my depth, destitute and deficient in every part of Education.
I most sincerely wish that some more liberal plan might be laid and executed for the Benefit of the rising Generation, and that our new Constitution may be distinguished for encouraging Learning and Virtue. If we mean to have Heroes, Statesmen and Philosophers, we should have learned women. The world perhaps would laugh at me and accuse me of vanity, But you I know have a mind too enlarged and liberal to disregard the Sentiment. If much depends as is allowed upon the early education of youth and the first principles which are instill'd take the deepest root, great benefit must arise from literary accomplishments in women.

„How difficult the task to quench the fire and the pride of private ambition, and to sacrifice ourselves and all our hopes and expectations to the public weal! How few have souls capable of so noble an undertaking!“

—  Abigail Adams

Letter to John Adams (10 July 1775)
Contexto: How difficult the task to quench the fire and the pride of private ambition, and to sacrifice ourselves and all our hopes and expectations to the public weal! How few have souls capable of so noble an undertaking! How often are the laurels worn by those who have had no share in earning them! But there is a future recompense of reward, to which the upright man looks, and which he will most assuredly obtain, provided he perseveres unto the end.

„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.“

—  Abigail Adams

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
Contexto: I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And by the way, in the 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.

„Whilst you are proclaiming peace and good will to men, emancipating all nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute power over wives. But you must remember that arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken —“

—  Abigail Adams

Letter from Abigail to John Adams, Braintree, May, 7, 1776.
Contexto: I can not say that I think you very generous to the Ladies, for Whilst you are proclaiming peace and good will to men, emancipating all nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute power over wives. But you must remember that arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken — and notwithstanding all your wise laws and maxims we have it in our power not only to free ourselves but to subdue our masters, and without violence throw both your natural and legal authority at our feet.

„I acknowledge myself a unitarian — Believing that the Father alone, is the supreme God, and that Jesus Christ derived his Being, and all his powers and honors from the Father.“

—  Abigail Adams

Letter to John Quincy Adams (5 May 1816)
Contexto: I acknowledge myself a unitarian — Believing that the Father alone, is the supreme God, and that Jesus Christ derived his Being, and all his powers and honors from the Father. … There is not any reasoning which can convince me, contrary to my senses, that three is one, and one three.

„You tell me of degrees of perfection to which human nature is capable of arriving, and I believe it, but at the same time lament that our admiration should arise from the scarcity of the instances.“

—  Abigail Adams

Letter to John Adams (27 November 1775)
Contexto: I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature; and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and, like the grave, cries, “Give, give!” The great fish swallow up the small; and he who is most strenuous for the rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the prerogatives of government. You tell me of degrees of perfection to which human nature is capable of arriving, and I believe it, but at the same time lament that our admiration should arise from the scarcity of the instances.

„My bursting heart must find vent at my pen.“

—  Abigail Adams