Individual liberty is individual power, and as the power of a community is a mass compounded of individual powers, the nation which enjoys the most freedom must necessarily be in proportion to its numbers the most powerful nation.

Adams equates liberty with usable capacity: when individuals are free to think, speak, work, and associate without arbitrary restraint, they can develop talents and act effectively—what he calls “power.” National strength, in this view, is not merely military force or centralized authority but the aggregate of many empowered citizens. The claim also implies a comparative, almost “scientific” political economy: other things equal, a freer society will outcompete a less free one because it mobilizes more initiative, innovation, and civic energy per person. The quote thus frames freedom as a practical engine of national power, not only a moral ideal.