From: "danceswithcarp" <dcombs-AT-bloomington.in.us>
Subject: Re: sports
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 22:59:31 -0500



From: <XVerbiage-AT-aol.com>

> I think it was Abigail Adams that said "All MEN would become tyrants if
given
> the opportunity."

Ah, but you took this out of context;  she is speaking of the institution of
marriage.  Abigail was one of our first published feminists. In a letter to
her husband John she wrote:

"I long to hear that you have declared independence.  And by the way, in the
new code of laws that I suppose you will make, I wish you would remember the
ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.  Do
not put such unlimited power in teh hands of husbands.   Remember, all men
should become tyrants if given the opportunity.  If particular care and
attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to stir up a
rebellion and will not regard ourselves as bound by any laws in which we
have no voice or representation."

John replied, "As to your extraordinary code of laws, I can't help
laughing."

Or in short, "Fuck you, Abbie."

What is remarkable is that in the "Womens Declaration Of Sentiments" of
1848, signed at, um, Seneca Falls, N.Y., USA,  Elizabeth Stanton Cady and
Lucretia Mott used very similar language to Abigail's when listing the
worngs perpetuated on womyn by men, in particular by husbands, to with...

"...The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations
on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment
of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a
candid world.

He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective
franchise.

He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no
voice.

He has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and
degraded men--both natives and foreigners.

Having deprived her of this first right of a citizen, the elective
franchise, thereby leaving her without representation in the halls of
legislation, he has oppressed her on all sides.

He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.

He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns.

He has made her, morally, an irresponsible being, as she can commit many
crimes with impunity, provided they be done in the presence of her husband.
In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her
husband, he becoming, to all intents and purposes, her master--the law
giving him power to deprive her of her liberty, and to administer
chastisement.

He has so framed the laws of divorce, as to what shall be the proper causes,
and in case of separation, to whom the guardianship of the children shall be
given, as to be wholly regardless of the happiness of women--the law, in all
cases, going upon a false supposition of the supremacy of man, and giving
all power into his hands.

After depriving her of all rights as a married woman, if single, and the
owner of property, he has taxed her to support a government which recognizes
her only when her property can be de profitable to it.

He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she
is permitted to follow, she receives but a scanty remuneration. He closes
against her all the avenues to wealth and distinction which he considers
most honorable to himself. As a teacher of theology, medicine, or law, she
is not known.

He has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education, all
colleges being closed against her.

He allows her in Church, as well as State, but a subordinate position,
claiming Apostolic authority for her exclusion from the ministry, and, with
some exceptions, from any public participation in the affairs of the Church.

He has created a false public sentiment by giving to the world a different
code of morals for men and women, by which moral delinquencies which exclude
women from society, are not only tolerated, but deemed of little account in
man.

He has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself, claiming it as his right
to assign for a sphere of action, when that belongs to conscience and to her
God.

He has endeavored, in every way that he could, to destroy her confidence in
her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make willing to lead a
dependent and abject life. Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement
one-half the people of this country, their social and religious
degradation--in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women
do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their
most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the
rights and privileges which long to them as citizens of the United States."
                                       *************************************

Susan B. Anthony then picked up the ball and ran with it, but Abigail said
it first.


carp