This quote highlights the fundamental difference in power and responsibility between a ruler and the ruled. It argues that a people's identity endures beyond their leader, but a king who fails his people loses all legitimate authority and purpose.
Quote by Abigail Adams: “A people may let a king fall, yet still remain a people; but if a king let his people fall, then is he no longer a king.”
A people may let a king fall, yet still remain a people; but if a king let his people fall, then is he no longer a king.
Insight
Historical Context
Written during the escalating tensions with Great Britain, this statement reflects the burgeoning revolutionary thought that justified resistance against a monarch seen as failing his colonial subjects.
Verify source / Learn moreAbout the Author
American writer and advocate for women's rights who was the wife of President John Adams and mother of President John Quincy Adams. Her letters to her husband during the founding era are among the most significant documents of early American intellectual life.
View all quotes by Abigail Adams