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.

letter to John Adams, 31 March 1776, in Butterfield et al. (eds.) The Book of Abigail and John (1975)