Abigail Adams
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Abigail Adams Epistolarian Born: November 11, 1744, Weymouth, Massachusetts Died: October 28, 1818, Quincy, Massachusetts Biography not happy that this match was with a country Abigail Adams was born in Weymouth, Massa- lawyer. They first settled in Braintree, Massa- chusetts, in 1744, to William Smith and Eliza- chusetts, on a small farm he had inherited and beth (née Quincy) Smith. She, along with Bar- later moved to Boston, though they moved back bara Bush, has been the only woman to be both and forth several times. Nine months after get- the wife and a mother of a US president. She ting married, she had her first child, one of six did not receive any formal schooling, not un- all together, of whom four lived to be adults. usual for young women at the time, and as a She had significant responsibility for managing child was frequently ill with rheumatic fever. the farm and the family’s finances while her Her mother was from the prominent Massachu- husband was practicing law. When he went to setts Quincy family and was also a cousin of John Philadelphia in 1774 for the First Continental Hancock. She taught Abigail and her two sis- Congress, she stayed behind. During the ters, May and Elizabeth, to read and write, and Second Continental Congress in 1776 she the sisters had the advantage of their family’s penned her most famous words in a letter to large libraries, which included religious as well her husband, “to Remember the Ladies.” In as secular works. Her father was a prominent 1777, her husband was subsequently appointed minister, serving as minister of the Weymouth as a commissioner to France, and he remained Congregational Church since 1734. in Europe without her for most of the next Adams first met her future husband, John, in seven years. All the separations led to the trove 1759, when he was brought to the parsonage by of correspondence that has made her Richard Cranch, who was courting her sister reputation. Mary. Cranch also suggested that Adams read In 1784, Abigail and her firstborn, also Shakespeare and other classics of literature, named Abigail, joined John in Paris and then and the effects of her studies can be seen in how left for England in 1785, where he became the she quoted from authors in her letters. John first US minister to the Court of St. James. They graduated from Harvard in 1755 and then both returned to the United States in 1788. Al- studied law. He did not begin considering Abi- though John was elected to the House of Repre- gail seriously until 1762. Her first known letter sentatives from New York, he never served, as to him dates from August 11, 1763, signing with he soon became the first vice president of the the pen name Diana. They eventually married new republic in 1789 and was reelected in 1793. in 1764, although her mother was apparently Abigail spent part of this time with him in New 1 2 Abigail Adams NOTABLE AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS York and then Philadelphia, when the capitol Because of the long periods of separation, was moved. He then narrowly defeated Thomas Adams was responsible for both the domestic Jefferson to become the second US president in sphere and the world of work, as she managed 1797. They became the first residents of the the family’s farm and investments while her White House in 1800, but of the entire time her husband pursued his political career. Although husband was president, she was with him for at women in this time period had no property most 18 months. She nevertheless took her role rights, she often referred to her home as her as First Lady (a term not used until much later) property. Thus, her famous call to her husband seriously, and she saw herself as a public voice to “Remember the Ladies” as a plea for the for the Federalist Party of her husband, in op- Founding Fathers to consider establishing position to Jefferson and his followers. She con- equal rights for women. She continued her ar- tinued her correspondence with John and also gument by asking him to “not put such unlim- wrote extensively to family and other political ited power into the hands of the husbands” for leaders. When John lost the 1801 election to Jef- “all men would be tyrants if they could.” She ferson, they retreated to Quincy, Massachusetts, also threatened him with consequences: “If par- where they had acquired the Peacefield house ticular care and attention is not paid to the La- and farm some fourteen years earlier. Her let- dies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, ters from this period reveal her enduring in- and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws terest in political issues, even as she devoted in which we have no voice, or Representation.” herself to family matters, including raising the Her husband dismissed her plea and responded children of her son John Quincy while he was that her “letter was the first Intimation that an- off on diplomatic missions. She died of typhoid other Tribe more numerous and powerfull than fever in 1818 and did not live to see her son be- all the rest were grown discontented.” Never- come president. theless, he continued to seek her advice throughout his political career. Analysis Some have interpreted her views on women’s rights to include suffrage, although there is Adams’s contribution to women’s writing rests little hint of that in her writings. What is clear, on her phenomenal output as an epistolarian. though, is that she believed women had the More than 2,300 of her letters have been pre- right to own property, and in a remarkable dem- served, although originally she did not see their onstration of independence she wrote a will in value. At one point, in 1774, she commanded 1816, with most of her personal bequests to that her husband “burn all these letters,” in case women relatives, even though the laws at that they should fall “from his pocket and thus ex- time meant that it had no legal standing. She pose” his “affectionate friend.” Many years later, also bought property in her husband’s name when she learned that her daughter Abigail while managing the family farm. Adams Smith intended to save some letters for Adams, like her husband, was also vehe- her own daughter, Adams was upset, arguing mently opposed to slavery, despite having grown that they were “trash.” Fortunately for women’s up in a home in which her father owned four history, many of the letters were kept by her slaves. In 1774 she wrote that she “most sin- daughter, son John Quincy, and sister Mary cerely” wished that “there was not a Slave in the Smith Cranch. province.” In the same letter in which she asked NOTABLE AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS Abigail Adams 3 for remembering the ladies she claimed that Selected Works “the passion for Liberty cannot be Eaquelly Letters and Correspondence Strong in the Breasts of those who have been Letters of Mrs. Adams, Wife of John Adams, 1840 accustomed to deprive their fellow Creatures of New Letters of Abigail Adams, 1788–1801, 1947 (edited theirs.” In 1791 she wrote to her husband about by Mary Smith Cranch and Stewart Mitchell) a neighbor’s complaint regarding her enrolling Adams Family Correspondence, 1963 (edited by L. H. a young African American man in an evening Butterfield et al.) school: “I have not thought it any disgrace to my The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence self to take him into my parlor and teach him between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams, both to read and write.” Adams, however, was 1988 not a fan of immigration and supported the My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams, Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, which un- 2007 (edited by Margaret A. Hogan and C. James doubtedly contributed to her husband’s defeat Taylor) in 1801. Letters, 2016 (edited by Edith Gelles) Adams often expressed her concern that she had not received a formal education. In a letter Selected Bibliography to her sister in 1809, who would “well know” what their early education was, she explained Abrams, Jeanne E. First Ladies of the Republic: Martha “it was not the fashion for Females to know Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the more than writing, and Arithmatic.” She argued Creation of an Iconic American Role. New York UP, that public education should be available to 2018. Shows the role played by these three First girls as well as to boys. As she wrote her husband Ladies in political life, despite not having the in 1778, “you need not be told how much fe- vote. male education is neglected, nor how fashion- Adams, Abigail. Letters, edited by Edith Gelles. The able it has been to ridicule female learning.” Library of America, 2016. The definitive source She regretted the “narrow contracted educa- for her correspondence. The volume includes tion of the females” in this country. Adams ulti- 430 letters, more than a hundred published for mately believed that access to education would the first time. also better prepare women for the roles of wives ______. New Letters of Abigail Adams, 1788–1801, ed- and mothers. ited by Mary Smith Cranch and Stewart Mitchell. Houghton Mifflin, 1947. A collection of letters preserved by her sister. Achievements ______, et al. Letters of Mrs. Adams, Wife of John Adams. Adams is most remembered for her 1776 letter C. C. Little and J. Brown, 1840.