Robert G. Ingersoll’s Insight on Power and Character
Understanding the Origins of This Wisdom
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) stands as one of nineteenth-century America’s most provocative and influential figures. Yet his name has largely faded from popular memory despite his revolutionary impact on American intellectual life. This observation about power revealing human character emerged from a man who spent his career exposing the corrupting influence of unaccountable authority. He challenged authority wielded by religious institutions, political machines, and industrial magnates. Ingersoll lived during the Gilded Age, an era of spectacular wealth accumulation and spectacular moral compromise.
American society was grappling with the aftermath of the Civil War, the rise of industrial capitalism, and fundamental questions about what kind of nation America would become. The quote itself reflects a distinctly Victorian-era skepticism about human nature and moral fortitude. Yet it remains strikingly contemporary in its analysis of how power operates as a revelation of character rather than a corruptor of it. This represents a subtle but important distinction that often gets lost in modern discourse about power.
Born in Dresden, New York, Ingersoll came from a remarkable family. His father, John Ingersoll, was a Baptist minister with decidedly radical leanings. John was a fervent abolitionist and social reformer. He provided young Robert with a model of moral courage in defying prevailing cultural norms. Following his father’s example but taking it further, Robert Ingersoll became an ardent freethinker and crusading lawyer. He eventually became one of America’s most celebrated orators at a time when public speaking was a primary form of intellectual entertainment and cultural influence.
He served as Attorney General of Illinois, ran for governor, and became the close confidant of President James G. Garfield. These positions gave him intimate exposure to the ways power shaped individual behavior and institutional practice. Yet unlike many politicians of his era, Ingersoll never compromised his principles for expedience. This choice limited his political advancement but enhanced his credibility as a social commentator.
What Does ‘Give Him Power’ Really Mean
During his lifetime, Ingersoll’s primary fame came from his rationalist lectures attacking Christian orthodoxy and defending agnosticism. This was genuinely dangerous to one’s reputation and livelihood at that time. He delivered hundreds of speeches with titles like “Some Mistakes of Moses,” “The Ghosts,” and “Why I Am an Agnostic.” Thousands of people packed opera houses and lecture halls to hear America’s most eloquent infidel. What made Ingersoll dangerous to religious establishments wasn’t just that he didn’t believe in God. Plenty of private skeptics existed in his time. But he argued eloquently and without apology that religion had caused immense human suffering.
He maintained that morality derived from human empathy and reason rather than divine command. Contemporaries compared his speaking ability to the greatest orators of antiquity. His ability to command attention and affection from audiences gave his ideas extraordinary reach. Yet Ingersoll possessed a quality often absent from modern atheist polemicists: he was genuinely kind about his disagreements. He expressed affection for believers even while dismantling their theological arguments. This approach made his ideas more persuasive rather than less.
Ingersoll likely made this observation about power from his extensive legal career. He observed directly how men behaved differently depending on their position and power. In courtrooms, legislative chambers, and private practice, behavior shifted based on authority. As a lawyer, he frequently defended unpopular clients and advocated for the rights of marginalized people. He witnessed how ordinary people transformed when given authority over others. Judges and prosecutors wielded power in ways that revealed their true natures regardless of their public virtues. The Gilded Age provided abundant examples of this principle.
Industrialists who claimed Christian charity built fortunes through exploitative labor practices. Religious leaders who preached meekness accumulated political influence. Politicians who championed democracy suppressed the rights of workers and minorities. Ingersoll’s observation was particularly incisive because it suggested something more subtle than simply “power corrupts.” Rather, it posits that power functions as a mirror showing us what was always there in a person’s character, merely hidden by the constraints of powerlessness. A person without power might seem virtuous simply because they lack the opportunity to act on their darker impulses. Only when given authority can we truly assess their fundamental nature.
Most people can bear adversity quote impact
One fascinating and lesser-known aspect of Ingersoll’s life deserves attention. Despite his virulent public atheism, even those who fiercely opposed his religious views genuinely loved him. He maintained deep friendships with clergymen who disagreed with him entirely. His eulogies were famous and much sought after, even by religious families who valued his eloquence and obvious humanity despite his heresy. He was a devoted husband and father, deeply committed to his family by all accounts. He used his considerable wealth generously to support causes he believed in, including women’s suffrage and racial justice.
Less known is that Ingersoll was also something of a mystic in his own way. He believed deeply in human dignity, progress, and the potential of civilization to improve itself through reason and compassion. These positions emerged not from cynicism but from an almost romantic faith in human capability. This combination made him a more complex figure than simple caricatures of “angry atheist” would suggest. He was an atheist precisely because he took human potential and moral responsibility so seriously.
The quote’s cultural impact has been substantial though often unatt