"Arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken"
About this Quote
Abigail Adams compresses a political lesson into a physical metaphor: what seems hardest is often most brittle. Arbitrary power, rigid and unaccountable, advertises strength, yet it cannot bend; it fractures under pressure. The image invites a contrast with just authority, which retains resilience by grounding itself in consent, law, and the capacity to adapt.
She wrote the line in March 1776 to her husband John Adams as he helped shape a new nation. While the colonies denounced the British for arbitrary rule, she turned that revolutionary logic toward domestic and civil life, urging that the new order avoid reproducing tyranny in smaller spheres. In the same letter that contains her famous plea to “remember the ladies,” she warns that unchecked male authority in the household mirrors the very despotism the patriots oppose. The brittleness she names is both political and personal: a household ruled by caprice will rupture just as surely as an empire built on coercion will provoke revolt.
The insight reaches beyond the moment. Power that rests on fear and whim lacks legitimacy, and people learn to resist it, either by open rebellion or by quiet refusal. By contrast, institutions that acknowledge limits, share power, and recognize rights become supple and durable. Adams anticipates a core republican argument: the rule of law, separation of powers, and checks and balances are not restraints that weaken government; they are the joints that let it move without breaking.
Her choice of everyday material wisdom gives the point force. Hardness impresses at first glance, but endurance belongs to what can flex. The founders faced this choice at the constitutional scale, and Adams insisted on it at the level of gender and domestic relations. Where authority is arbitrary, fracture is only a matter of time; where it is accountable, it can endure change without shattering.
She wrote the line in March 1776 to her husband John Adams as he helped shape a new nation. While the colonies denounced the British for arbitrary rule, she turned that revolutionary logic toward domestic and civil life, urging that the new order avoid reproducing tyranny in smaller spheres. In the same letter that contains her famous plea to “remember the ladies,” she warns that unchecked male authority in the household mirrors the very despotism the patriots oppose. The brittleness she names is both political and personal: a household ruled by caprice will rupture just as surely as an empire built on coercion will provoke revolt.
The insight reaches beyond the moment. Power that rests on fear and whim lacks legitimacy, and people learn to resist it, either by open rebellion or by quiet refusal. By contrast, institutions that acknowledge limits, share power, and recognize rights become supple and durable. Adams anticipates a core republican argument: the rule of law, separation of powers, and checks and balances are not restraints that weaken government; they are the joints that let it move without breaking.
Her choice of everyday material wisdom gives the point force. Hardness impresses at first glance, but endurance belongs to what can flex. The founders faced this choice at the constitutional scale, and Adams insisted on it at the level of gender and domestic relations. Where authority is arbitrary, fracture is only a matter of time; where it is accountable, it can endure change without shattering.
Quote Details
| Topic | Freedom |
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