The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power

“The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule.” Thus declared Samuel Adams, fiery son of the American Revolution, whose voice stirred the hearts of men to rise against tyranny. These words are not mere philosophy; they are a battle-cry forged in the fire of oppression, a declaration that liberty is not granted by kings nor parliaments, but is the birthright of every human soul.

The meaning is rooted in the very soil of natural law. To say that man has natural liberty is to proclaim that freedom is older than governments, older than crowns, older than any written law. It flows not from rulers but from the order of creation itself. According to Adams, no earthly power holds the right to enslave the will of man. The only true authority is the law of nature, that eternal compass placed within every conscience, guiding men toward justice, reason, and dignity.

The origin of these words lies in the ferment of the 18th century, when colonists of America groaned under the weight of imperial control. The taxes, the decrees, the laws passed an ocean away—all pressed upon them as shackles upon freeborn men. Adams, steeped in the writings of John Locke and other philosophers of liberty, took these ideas and gave them flesh and blood. He proclaimed that to be ruled unjustly by another man’s will was to betray the sacred trust of nature. Thus the seeds of revolution were sown, not merely in anger, but in the conviction that freedom was divinely ordained.

History bears witness to the power of such belief. Recall the story of the Magna Carta in 1215, when English barons forced King John to recognize that even a monarch was bound by law. Though centuries apart, the spirit was the same: man’s liberty does not come as a gift from rulers, but as a limit upon their power. Samuel Adams carried that spirit across the Atlantic, breathing it into the Declaration of Independence and the resolve of patriots. His words echoed in the hearts of farmers, tradesmen, and scholars alike, until they rose together to demand the liberty that nature had already promised them.

The wisdom of Adams also serves as a warning. For he teaches that whenever rulers exalt their own will above the law of nature, oppression follows. Tyranny may clothe itself in law, but if it tramples freedom, it is illegitimate. The heart of liberty, then, is vigilance—an eternal watchfulness to ensure that no man or institution grows so great as to claim mastery over another’s soul. As iron grinds against iron, so must the people sharpen their resolve against any who would place them in chains.

Yet these words are not only for nations; they are for each soul. To live by the law of nature is to live in truth, to follow conscience, to resist those who would coerce us into silence or submission. In families, in workplaces, in communities, whenever domination replaces respect, the spirit of liberty is threatened. And so the teaching of Adams calls us not only to resist political tyranny, but also to walk daily in freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and freedom of conscience.

Therefore, dear listener, take this wisdom as your inheritance. Remember that your dignity is not bestowed by governments, employers, or even society itself—it is born within you, anchored in the eternal law of nature. Defend it boldly, but also cherish it humbly. Teach it to your children, that they may know they are free by birth, not by decree. And live it yourself, refusing to yield your conscience to the will of others when it stands in defiance of truth.

For in the words of Samuel Adams lies the eternal lesson: that liberty is the natural state of man, tyranny the corruption of it. To safeguard freedom is not only the duty of nations, but the calling of every human heart. Let us therefore live as guardians of this sacred gift, guided not by the will of men, but by the unchanging law of nature itself.