Abigail Adams

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(born Nov. 22, 1744, Weymouth, Mass.died Oct. 28, 1818, Quincy, Mass., U.S.) U.S. first lady. She was the daughter of a Congregational minister. Educated entirely at home, she became an avid reader of history. She married John Adams in 1764 and raised four children, including John Quincy Adams, in Quincy, Mass. In 1774 she began a prolific correspondence with her husband, who was attending the Continental Congress in Philadelphia; she described daily life and discussed public affairs during the American Revolution with wit and political acuity. She continued her letters to family and friends while in Europe (178488) and Washington, D.C. (17891801), during her husband's diplomatic and presidential careers. She was considered an influential adviser to him.

For more information on Abigail Adams, visit Britannica.com.

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American First Lady Abigail Adams (1744-1818), an early proponent of humane treatment and equal education for women, is considered a remarkable woman for her times. Perhaps best known for her prolific letter writing, she is credited with having a notable influence on her husband, John Adams, second President of the United States.

Abigail Smith Adams was born in a parsonage at Weymouth, Massachusetts, on November 11, 1744. Her mother, Elizabeth Quincy Smith, was related to the Bay Colony's Puritan leadership. Her well-educated father, Reverend William Smith, was minister of the North Parish Congregational Church of Weymouth. Despite the fact that many of Adams' relatives were well-to-do merchants and ship captains, Adams was raised in a simple, rural setting. In accordance with the times, she was educated at home. She learned domestic skills, such as sewing, fine needlework, and cooking, along with reading and writing. She took advantage of her father's extensive library to broaden her knowledge. Her lack of a formal education became a life-long regret and, as an adult, she favored equal education for women. She once argued that educated mothers raised intelligent children.

On October 25, 1764, Adams married John Adams, a struggling, Harvard-educated, country lawyer nine years her senior. Although John Adams was not from a prominent social family and his chosen profession lacked high regard, the couple was well matched intellectually and the marriage was a happy one. During their years together, Abigail Adams successfully managed the family farm, raised her children, travelled with her husband on diplomatic missions to Europe, and carried on a voluminous correspondence with many of the well-known political figures of that time. Her character was forged by the events of her life, including the United Colonies' separation from England, the formation of the United States, her husband's political career and subsequent years of separation from him, the deaths of three of her children, and personal illness.

Early Political Years

During the first few years of their marriage, John Adams lived mostly in Boston, Massachusetts, building his law career and becoming more and more involved with the fomenting political unrest. Abigail Adams, however, remained at the family farm in Braintree (later renamed Quincy), Massachusetts. Her successful management of the farm was a feat uncommon for a woman of that era. The profits from this venture, combined with John Adams' legal practice, helped support the family. When John Adams declined to stand for re-election as selectman in Braintree, he rented a house in Boston and the family was reunited in their new urban home.

This was a time of great political upheaval. The Colonists wished to affirm their loyalty to their Sovereign while at the same time refusing to submit to taxation without representation. Rumors circulated that British troops were en route to Boston. The situation was explosive. Leaders like John Adams believed that armed opposition would isolate Boston from the rest of the Colonies. When John Adams was offered the post of advocate general of the Court of Admiralty, a high tribute to his ability as a lawyer and politician, he refused, claiming the position would be incompatible with his principles.

During the next few unsettling months, Abigail Adams suffered from migraines and chronic insomnia, as well as a difficult pregnancy. The Adams' third child, Susanna, was born towards the end of 1768, but the baby girl only lived for a year. Four months after Susanna's death, Abigail Adams gave birth to their son Charles. Despite her own bouts with illness, Abigail Adams gave birth to four children in just over five years.

The Start of the Revolution

During the next two years, hostilities between the Tories (those settlers who supported the English king) and the Patriots increased. John Adams, who had successfully defended British soldiers in two major trials, keenly felt the negative reaction of the Patriots. Then, in 1771, concerned with Abigail Adams' continuing poor health, John Adams returned his family to their home in Braintree. Sixteen months later, after Abigail Adams gave birth to their third son, Thomas, John Adams returned to Boston, leaving the family behind.

After being chosen as a delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, John Adams relentlessly travelled the law circuit, earning as much as he could so that he could leave Abigail Adams with a bit of cash reserve until he would be able to return. Riding the circuit, though, gave him time to mull over the problems faced by the Colonies and by himself. His consolation was to write long letters to Abigail Adams, sometimes several a day, expressing his hopes and fears. Abigail Adams, in turn, wrote to her husband of her own loneliness, doubts, and fears.

During this time, John Adams relied strongly on his wife. She was his political sounding board as well as the caretaker and manager of their home and farm. In one letter, he instructed her to encourage the Braintree militia to exercise as much as possible, but to avoid a war if they could. As the Continental Congress drew to a close, Abigail Adams' letters to her husband encouraged his return home.

The War Begins

When word of the Battle of Lexington reached the Adams family in Braintree, there was a sense of relief because the wait and preparation for war were over. John Adams travelled to Lexington to see and hear for himself the accounts of the battle. Upon returning to Braintree, he gave Abigail Adams an accounting of what he'd learned, then took ill. The Continental Congress was reassembling in Philadelphia, and John Adams was determined to attend. Nursed back to health by his wife, John set-out for Philadelphia two days after the other delegates had left. Correspondence to her friends reveals that Abigail Adams sent her husband off with a cake from her mother, a mare from her father, and a young man, John Bass, to take care of him. She wrote that she tried to be "very sensible and heroic" as he left, but her heart "felt like a heart of lead."

Braintree, while in no danger from the British, nonetheless felt the impact of war. Militiamen stopped at the Adams' home at almost any hour of the day or night, seeking a meal, a drink of water, a cup of cider or rum, a place to spend the night. Refugees from the city found temporary shelter there. Although meat was plentiful, many other goods were in short supply; in one letter, Abigail Adams wrote that she especially needed pins-she would gladly give ten dollars for a thousand!

In the fall of 1775, an epidemic of dysentery hit Braintree and neighboring towns. The illness hit the youngest and oldest most hard; it was not unusual for three and four people in a family to die within days of each other. Abigail Adams and her son, Thomas, took ill, but slowly recovered. Even though she was ill herself, Abigail Adams travelled from Braintree to Weymouth to nurse her mother. Despite Abigail Adams' attentive nursing care, her mother died. During the next six weeks, five more members of her family succumbed to the illness. She wrote to her husband, "I cannot overcome my too selfish sorrow…."

The Battle Reaches Boston

Meanwhile, in cities like Boston and Philadelphia, the move for a declaration of independence grew stronger, stirred by Thomas Paine's pamphlet, Common Sense. As the fighting drew closer to Boston in 1776, the militia of Braintree mustered on the North Commons, and marched off to the city, taking rations for three days. Abigail Adams, seated at the top of Penn's Hill, watched the cannon fire between the British and Americans. She later wrote to John Adams, "The sound is one of the grandest in nature, and is of the true species with the sublime! 'Tis now an incessant roar; but oh! the fatal ideas which are connected with the sound! How many of our dear countrymen must fall?!"

Within a week, the militia was once more ordered to be prepared to march at a moment's notice. British ships were in the harbor and it was reported that troops were plundering the city. But it was a British withdrawal-Boston's siege was over. On July 8th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was published. Unfortunately, the war still raged and the Congress had to write a constitution for the new government. Though John Adams wished to return home, his work was far from over. His wife's letters held him steady; it was the intellectual as well as emotional bond that supported him.

In her letter of March 13, 1776, Abigail Adams suggested to her husband that women be taken into consideration: "[I]n 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 favorable 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. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation."'

During their many years of separation, Abigail Adams continued her successful management of the household and family finances. Although women of that time period did not normally conduct affairs of business, and married women were prevented by law from owning land in their own name, it was Abigail Adams who traded stock, hired help, coped with tenants, bought land, oversaw construction, and supervised the planting and harvesting. "I hope in time to have the reputation of being as good a Farmess as my partner has of being a good Statesman," she once wrote. In his autobiography, their grandson, Charles Francis Adams, credited Abigail Adams' sound management skills with saving the family from the financial ruin that affected so many of those who held public office during those first years of the new government.

John Adams Is Sent to France

With the war still being fought, John Adams was asked to replace the Paris commissioner. On a leave of absence from the Continental Congress to visit the family shortly after the request was made, John Adams was asked to handle a difficult legal case in Portsmouth. In his absence, dispatches arrived at the Braintree farm from Congress. Upon reading the dispatches, Abigail Adams was dismayed to learn of her husband's appointment as French minister. She wrote to General Roberdeau, thanking him for his hospitality to her husband, and added, "I have made use of his absence to prepare my mind for what I apprehend must take place lest I should unnecessarily embarrass him." Although John Adams left the decision up to Abigail Adams as to whether he would accept or decline the appointment, she knew what the choice must be. In her letter to her good friend, Mercy Warren, Abigail Adams wrote that she "found his honor and reputation much dearer to me than my own present pleasure and happiness…." It was decided that their 10-year-old son, John Quincy, would accompany his father to France. John Adams and his son left Braintree in early February, 1778.

This separation from her husband was seemingly harder for Abigail Adams to endure than all the years John Adams had spent in Congress. Letters took weeks to travel across the ocean. John Adams, fearing that his letters would be intercepted by the British and published, wrote very little. Nonetheless, Abigail Adams implored him to write more frequently. "Let me entreat you to write me more letters…. They are my food by day and my rest by night…. Cheerfulness and tranquility took the place of grief and anxiety [upon receipt of a packet of three letters]." Abigail Adams also wrote of daily life at the farm. With the war continuing, luxury items became scarce in the colonies. Abigail Adams wrote to her husband to send her goods from France, so that she could sell them at a profit in Massachusetts. During this time, she also speculated in currency.

After eighteen long months, John Adams' homecoming was a time of celebration. But soon after his arrival, Congress voted to send him to France again, as minister plenipotentiary, to negotiate a peace treaty between the United States and several European countries, particularly Great Britain. This time, John Adams took along two of his sons, John Quincy, and his younger brother, Charles. In September, 1783, a treaty between England, France, Spain, Holland, and the United States was signed.

Shortly after, John Adams received notice of another appointment. He, along with Benjamin Franklin and John Jay, were to negotiate a treaty of commerce with Great Britain. Abigail Adams joined her husband and sons in Europe at this point, bringing her daughter, Nabby, with her. After a long ocean voyage, Abigail Adams arrived in London, only to learn her husband had to make a political trip to Holland. She and her daughter waited almost a month for John Adams to return. When the couple finally reunited, it had been five years since they had last seen each other. Although pleased to be together, neither John nor Abigail Adams enjoyed their time in England. In April, 1788, five years after Abigail Adams' arrival, the family set sail for home. During those years in Europe, Abigail Adams had served as hostess for both political and social gatherings and as political advisor to her husband.

John Adams Becomes Vice-President

When the Electoral College tallied votes in March of 1789, George Washington was the clear Presidential winner. John Adams, with 34 votes, placed second and became Vice-President. Although Abigail Adams had been upset by her husband's earlier political assignments, when he had to be away from home for years at a time, she fully supported his decision to accept the vice-presidency.

Once more, the Adams family relocated. This time, their destination was a newly-built home in Philadelphia. Once in the city, Abigail Adams was faced with mass confusion. Boxes and furniture were scattered everywhere, the house was damp and cold, and beds had to be set-up before nightfall. Within days of their arrival, though, her son, Thomas, and the two maids had taken ill. Even while she nursed the invalids, Abigail Adams had to assume the role of hostess and welcome visitors to the Adams' home. With spring's arrival, and her oldest children off in their own directions, Abigail Adams decided to return to Braintree with Thomas, in hopes that fresh country air would hasten his recovery.

With John Adams in Philadelphia, and Abigail Adams in Quincy, the couple once more began their correspondence. Their letters now openly discussed political situations; both were concerned with the antagonistic political atmosphere in Philadelphia. When a Federalist friend of John Adams proposed making Abigail Adams the Autocratix of the United States, Abigail Adams wasted no time in sending her reply. "Tell [him] I do not know what he means by abusing me so. I was always for equality as my husband can witness."

John Adams Becomes President

When John Adams learned that Washington planned to retire in 1797, he promptly sought Abigail Adams' advice. If he ran for the office and didn't win enough electoral votes to become President, he would be obliged to accept the Vice-Presidency under the winner, whom they expected to be Thomas Jefferson. John Adams, although hoping to win the Presidency, most definitely did not want to serve as second-in-command underneath Jefferson; their political positions were too far apart. Abigail Adams' response was filled with reservations, but once again, she knew that turning away from the Presidency would not be in her husband's nature. After winning the election, John Adams asked his wife to join him in the capital city.

Abigail Adams arrived in Philadelphia in early May. The house was shortly put in order, and Abigail Adams quickly held a reception as First Lady. John Adams discussed nearly every important problem with her, and most often followed her advice. Abigail Adams also continued to write many letters to friends, and those who knew the strength of her influence with her husband took pains to enlist her support. She even continued managing the Quincy (formerly Braintree) farm through correspondence with her sister, Mary Cranch, and with Dr. Cotton Tufts.

As was to be expected, John Adams' years as President were filled with political challenges. Abigail Adams fretted about her husband's health, but admitted he had never been in finer spirits. Abigail Adams, on the other hand, was not well. When Congress convened for the summer, the couple set forth for their Quincy farm. By the time the entourage reached Quincy, Abigail Adams was exhausted and ill with fever, diarrhea, and diabetes. When John Adams returned to Philadelphia in November, he had to leave his wife behind.

It wasn't until after the next summer recess that Abigail Adams was able to return with her husband to Philadelphia, where she remained for the term. This time, on her route back to Quincy, Abigail Adams stopped in New York to call on her daughter, Nabby, and her son Charles. Nabby's husband, Colonel Smith, was a wastrel and had spent his family's money. Charles, though glad to see his mother, was in even worse straits than his sister. Charles was an alcoholic, and his health was rapidly deteriorating.

Although John Adams moved into the new Presidential mansion on the Potomac River, his stay was not to be for long. He lost the next election. Before leaving to join her husband in Washington, D.C., Abigail Adams wrote to her son, Thomas, "My journey is a mountain before me, but I must climb it." Once again she stopped in New York to visit her son and daughter. Charles did not have long to live, and it was with great sadness that Abigail Adams bade him farewell. John Adams received news of his election defeat at the same time he learned of the death of his son, Charles.

Retirement to Quincy

After his political retirement, John Adams slowly adjusted to life on the farm, and once again began corresponding with friends. Abigail Adams, concerned about finances, continued to keep herself busy with the day-to-day details of running her home. Throughout the next year, the family remained plagued with illness. Both Mary Cranch, Abigail Adams' sister, and Mary's husband, died within days of each other. Nabby, John and Abigail's daughter, had been diagnosed with cancer. She brought her two daughters to the farm and underwent surgery. John Adams stumbled over a stake in the ground, tore the skin off his leg, and was forced to sit in his chair for several weeks. Once again, Abigail Adams and her two maids nursed the sick. Despite the surgery, Nabby's cancer returned by the summer of 1814. Knowing she would die soon, Nabby made the agonizing journey back to the Quincy farm and died three weeks after arriving. Abigail Adams nursed her daughter until the end.

In October of 1818, Abigail Adams suffered a stroke. She died quietly on October 28th, 1818, surrounded by her family. Her husband, John Adams lived several more years, passing away quietly on July 4th, 1826. Abigail Adams has the distinction of being the only woman in the United States who was the wife of one president (John Adams) and the mother of another (John Quincy Adams).

Although Abigail Adams may be viewed as an early advocate for women's rights, she never saw herself as such. While her management abilities and financial aptitude kept the family solvent, she saw her main role in life as wife and mother and used her talents to maintain the family. Her marriage was a successful and loving partnership, and she considered herself equal to her husband. She freely advised John Adams on a number of topics, and her advice was respected and often followed. She also suggested that the law be amended to protect women from male tyranny; however, she never took an active role in securing change. As a woman of the eighteenth century, she witnessed a great deal of political turmoil, war, and the birth of a new nation. Abigail Adams' voluminous correspondence with her husband, family, and friends provides a historical record of the times as well as showing her as an intelligent and capable woman.

Further Reading

Adams, Abigail, and John Adams, The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784, edited by L.H. Butterfield, Harvard University Press, 1975.

Adams, Abigail, and John Adams, Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams, During the Revolution, Hurd and Houghton, 1876.

Adams, Charles Francis, and John Quincy Adams, The Life of John Adams, [1871], reprinted, Haskell House, 1968.

Akers, Charles W., Abigail Adams: An American Woman, Little, Brown, 1980.

Butterfield, L.H., editor, Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Belknap Press, 1962.

Ferling, John, John Adams, A Life, University of Tennessee Press, 1992.

Gelles, Edith B., Portia: The World of Abigail Adams, Indiana University Press, 1992.

Levin, Phyllis Lee, Abigail Adams: A Biography, St. Martin's Press, 1987.

Smith, Page, John Adams, Volume I: 1735-1784, Doubleday, 1962.

• Born: Nov. 11, 1744, Weymouth, Mass.
• Wife of John Adams, 2nd President
• Died: Oct. 28, 1818, Braintree, Mass.

Wife of John Adams, second President of the United States, mother of John Quincy Adams, sixth President, and an early champion of women's rights, Abigail Adams spent much of her life in towns on the outskirts of Boston. She had no formal schooling and her spelling was poor, but she was widely read and learned to read and write French. In October 1764 she married John Adams, a young law student. She strongly supported his criticisms of British colonial policies. During the first 10 years of their marriage they had four children. Then revolutionary politics separated the couple for most of the next decade. During the Revolution, Abigail Adams ran the family farm and several business enterprises. In 1784 she rejoined her husband in France, then in 1785 traveled with him to London, where he was the American minister to Great Britain.

Abigail wrote numerous letters to her husband, relatives, and friends, among them leaders of the Revolution such as Thomas Jefferson. Her letter writing was not only a form of communication but also a form of expression through which she could develop her ideas and influence the leaders of the new American nation.

Among those things she wrote was an eloquent statement on women's equality. “I desire you would Remember the ladies,” she wrote to her husband in 1776 while he was attending the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, “and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors.” She added that “if perticuliar [sic] care and attention is not paid to the Laidies [sic] we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.” But her plea was unavailing: at the end of the Revolution women had fewer rights in law and politics than they had been given by colonial governments.

In November 1800, in the last year of her husband's Presidency, Abigail Adams became the first Presidential wife to occupy the White House in Washington, D.C. More than two decades after her death, in 1840, her grandson Charles Francis Adams began publishing her letters, which became an inspiration to many women seeking greater equality.

Sources

• L. H. Butterfield et al., eds., The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family 1762–1784 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1975).
• Phyllis Lee Levin, Abigail Adams: A Biography (New York: St. Martin's, 1987).
• Paul C. Nagel, The Adams Women: Abigail and Louisa Adams, Their Sisters and Daughters (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989).
• Lynne Withey, Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams (New York: Free Press, 1981).
• Nancy Woloch, “Abigail Adams”, in The Reader's Companion to American History, edited by Eric Foner and John Garraty (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991)

(1744-1818), writer and First Lady. Abigail Adams's talent as a correspondent has won her a high place in American letters. Born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, she was descended from many well known New England families. Self-educated, she read widely and studied French. In 1764, at age nineteen, she married a young lawyer, John Adams, and moved to his home in Braintree, where she stayed through the Revolution. There she raised four children, Abigail, John Quincy, Charles, and Thomas Boylston. Another child died in infancy.

In the 1770s, John Adams became involved in revolutionary politics. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congresses and in other wartime posts. During his frequent absences, Abigail Adams ran the household and family farm, engaged in business enterprises, purchased land, and dealt with tenants. In 1784, she joined John in Europe, where he was the American minister to Great Britain. During his terms as vice president and president (1789-1801), she lived in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, and thereafter in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Abigail Adams may have found her calling as a correspondent during her courtship in the 1760s or, more likely, during her wartime separation from her husband. For over four decades, she wrote letters to him and to her children, relatives, and friends. As a writer she chose the form most natural to eighteenth-century women, for whom publication was rarely an option. Letter writing was not only a form of communication but a mode of self-definition and a way of relating to the larger society. An avid reader, Abigail devoured literature, history, and political philosophy. Despite her lack of training, phonetic spelling, and often faulty grammar, she perfected her style and excelled at her craft. "My pen is always freer than my tongue," she wrote to John in 1775. "I have wrote many things to you that I suppose I never could have talked."

Her letters provide a window on eighteenth-century life, private and public. They reveal Abigail's roles as wife, parent, and friend; her domestic and social activities; her opinions and observations. They also convey her zeal for politics, her intense interest in national affairs, and her avid patriotism. "Our country is as it were a Secondary God, and the first and greatest parent," she wrote to Mercy Warren in 1776. "It is to be perferred [sic] to parents, to wives, children, Friends and all things the Gods only excepted." Her wartime correspondence with John Adams combined personal messages, local news, and political commentary. In March 1776, she vented a complaint about the legal subjection of married women. "I desire you would Remember the ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors," she wrote in a jesting tone. "Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands."

In her later years, Abigail remained a strong partisan of John Adams and a staunch supporter of her successful oldest son, John Quincy Adams, who was elected president in 1824. In 1840, her grandson, Charles Francis Adams, published 114 of her letters and edited for an 1876 volume the wartime correspondence between John and Abigail Adams.

Bibliography:

L. H. Butterfield et al., eds., The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784 (1975); Lynne Withey, Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams (1981).

Author:

Nancy Woloch

See also Adams, John; Adams, John Quincy.

Bibliography

The correspondence with her husband was edited in a number of volumes by Charles Francis Adams and abridged by M. A. Hogan and C. J. Taylor (2007). The Adams-Jefferson Letters, edited by Lester J. Cappon (1959), includes her letters as well as John's, and letters to her sister, Mary Smith Cranch, are in New Letters of Abigail Adams, 1788-1801, edited by Stewart Mitchell (1947, repr. 1973). See biographies by J. Whitney (1947, repr. 1970), L. E. Richards (1917, repr. 1971), C. W. Akers (1980), and W. Holton (2009); E. B. Gelles, Abigail and John: Portrait of a Marriage (2009); G. J. Barker-Benfield, Abigail and John Adams: The Americanization of Sensibility (2010); J. J. Ellis, First Family (2010). See also bibliography for Adams, John.

Quotes:

"Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence."

"Arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken."

"Great necessities call out great virtues."

"We have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them."

"If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation."

For other people named Abigail Adams, see Abigail Adams (disambiguation).

Abigail Adams
First Lady of the United States
In office March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801
Preceded by	Martha Washington
Succeeded by	Martha Jefferson Randolph
Second Lady of the United States
In office May 16, 1789 – March 4, 1797
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	Martha Jefferson Randolph
Personal details
Born	November 22, 1744(1744-11-22) Weymouth, Province of Massachusetts Bay
Died	October 28, 1818(1818-10-28) (aged 73) Quincy, Massachusetts, USA
Spouse(s)	John Adams
Relations	William and Elizabeth Quincy Smith
Children	Abigail "Nabby", John Quincy, Susanna, Charles, Thomas, Elizabeth (stillborn)
Occupation	First Lady of the United States
Religion	Unitarian
Signature

Abigail Adams (née Smith; November 22 [O.S. November 11] 1744 – October 28, 1818) was the wife of John Adams, who was the second President of the United States, and the mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth. She was the first Second Lady of the United States, and the second First Lady of the United States.

Adams is remembered for the many letters she wrote to her husband while he stayed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the Continental Congresses. John frequently sought the advice of Abigail on many matters, and their letters are filled with intellectual discussions on government and politics. The letters serve as eyewitness accounts of the American Revolutionary War home front.

Contents 1 Early life and family 1.1 Father William Smith 2 Marriage and children 3 Europe 4 First Lady 5 Death 6 Political viewpoints 6.1 Women's rights 6.2 Slavery 7 Religious beliefs 8 Legacy 8.1 Memorials 8.2 Popular culture 8.3 Portrait on currency 9 Ancestry 10 References 11 Bibliography 11.1 Primary sources 12 External links

Early life and family

Abigail Adams was born in the North Parish Congregational Church in Weymouth, Massachusetts, to the Reverend William Smith and Elizabeth (née Quincy) Smith.^[1] On her mother's side she was descended from the Quincy family, a well-known political family in the Massachusetts colony. Through her mother she was a cousin of Dorothy Quincy, wife of John Hancock. Adams was also the great-granddaughter of the Rev. John Norton, founding pastor of Old Ship Church in Hingham, Massachusetts, the only remaining 17th-century Puritan meetinghouse in Massachusetts.

Her father, William Smith (1707–1783), a liberal Congregationalist, and other forebears were Congregational ministers, and leaders in a society that held its clergy in high esteem. However, he did not preach about predestination, original sin or the full divinity of Christ; instead he emphasized the importance of reason and morality.^[2] Adams was a sickly child and was not considered healthy enough for formal schooling. Although she did not receive a formal education, her mother taught her and her sisters Mary (1739–1811) and Elizabeth (1742–1816, known as Betsy) to read, write and cipher; her father's, uncle's and grandfather's large libraries enabled the sisters to study English and French literature.^[2] As an intellectually open-minded woman for her day, Adams' ideas on women's rights and government would eventually play a major role, albeit indirectly, in the founding of the United States. She became one of the most erudite women ever to serve as First Lady.^[who?]

Father William Smith

Reverend William Smith (1707–1784) was a supporter of the American revolution. Known as the father of Abigail Adams, father-in-law of President John Adams and grandfather of President John Quincy Adams. After he was married in 1742 to Elizabeth Quincy he fathered 3 daughters: one born in 1743, Abigail born in 1744 and another born in 1745. He was a Congregational Minister and presided over his daughter's wedding in 1764. He supported the revolution. In July 1775 his dear wife of 33 years died of smallpox. His granddaughter also had the disease but lived. He greatly admired his daughter and son-in-law's work for their country. He died aged 77 in 1784.

Marriage and children

Adams as part of the Boston Women's Memorial on Commonwealth Ave.

As third cousins,^[3] Abigail and John had known each other since they were children. In 1762, John accompanied his friend Richard Cranch to the Smith household. Cranch was engaged to Adams' older sister, Mary. John was quickly attracted to the petite, shy, 17-year-old brunette who was forever bent over some book. He was surprised to learn that she knew so much about poetry, philosophy and politics, considered unusual for a woman at the time.

Although Adams' father approved of the match, her mother was appalled that her daughter would marry a country lawyer whose manners still reeked of the farm, but eventually she gave in.

The couple married on October 25, 1764, five days before John's 29th birthday, in the Smiths' home in Weymouth. Abigail wore a square-necked gown of white challis, while John appeared in a dark blue coat, contrasting light breeches and white stockings, a gold-embroidered satin waistcoat his mother had made for the occasion, and buckle shoes. Then Rev. Smith (the bride's father) performed the nuptials.

After the reception, the couple mounted a single horse and rode off to their new home, the small cottage and farm that John had inherited from his father in Braintree, Massachusetts, before moving to Boston, where his law practice expanded.

In 10 years she gave birth to six children:

• Abigail ("Nabby") (1765–1813)
• John Quincy Adams (1767–1848)
• Susanna Boylston (1768–1770)
• Charles (1770–1800)
• Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)
• Elizabeth (stillborn in 1777).^[4]

Adams was responsible for family and farm when her husband was on his long trips. "Alas!" she wrote in December 1773, "How many snow banks divide thee and me." She raised her two younger sons throughout John's prolonged absences. She also raised her elder grandchildren, including George Washington Adams and a younger John Adams, while John Quincy Adams was minister to Russia. Her childrearing style included relentless and continual reminders of what the children owed to virtue and the Adams tradition.^[5]

Europe

In 1784, she and her daughter Nabby joined her husband and her eldest son, John Quincy, at her husband's diplomatic post in Paris. After 1785, she filled the role of wife of the first U.S. minister to the Court of ST. James (Britain). They returned in 1788 to a house known as the "Old House" in Quincy, which she set about vigorously enlarging and remodeling. It is still standing and open to the public as part of Adams National Historical Park. Nabby later died of breast cancer, having endured three years of severe pain.

Abigail Adams in later life

First Lady

When John was elected President of the United States, Abigail continued a formal pattern of entertaining. With the removal of the capital to Washington in 1800, she became the first First Lady to preside over the White House, or President's House as it was then known. The city was wilderness, the President's House far from completion. She found the unfinished mansion in Washington "habitable" and the location "beautiful"; but she complained that, despite the thick woods nearby, she could find no one willing to chop and haul firewood for the First Family. Adams' health, never robust, suffered in Washington. She took an active role in politics and policy, unlike the quiet presence of Martha Washington. She was so politically active that her political opponents came to refer to her as "Mrs. President".

After John's defeat in his presidential re-election campaign, the family retired to Quincy in 1800. Abigail followed her son's political career earnestly, as her letters to her contemporaries show. In later years, she renewed correspondence with Thomas Jefferson, whose political opposition to her husband had hurt her deeply.

Abigail and John's marriage is well documented through their correspondence and other writings. Letters exchanged throughout John's political obligations indicate that his trust in Abigail's knowledge was sincere. "She could quote poetry more readily than could John Adams," states McCullogh. Their correspondence illuminated their mutual emotional and intellectual respect. John often excused himself to Abigail for his "vanity",^[6] exposing his need for her approval.

Death

Adams died on October 28, 1818,^[1] of typhoid fever. She is buried beside her husband in a crypt located in the United First Parish Church (also known as the Church of the Presidents) in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was 73 years old, exactly two weeks shy of her 74th birthday.

Her last words were, "Do not grieve, my friend, my dearest friend. I am ready to go. And John, it will not be long."

Political viewpoints

Women's rights

Adams was an advocate of married women's property rights and more opportunities for women, particularly in the field of education. Women, she believed, should not submit to laws not made in their interest, nor should they be content with the simple role of being companions to their husbands. They should educate themselves and thus be recognized for their intellectual capabilities, so they could guide and influence the lives of their children and husbands. She is known for her March, 1776 letter to John and the Continental Congress, requesting that they, "...remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable 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. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation."^[2]

One of last letters sent by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello to Abigail Adams, May 1817

John declined Abigail's "extraordinary code of laws," but acknowledged to Abigail, "We have only the name of masters, and rather than give up this, which would completely subject us to the despotism of the petticoat, I hope General Washington and all our brave heroes would fight."^[7]

Slavery

Along with her husband, Adams believed that slavery was evil and a threat to the American democratic experiment. A letter written by her on March 31, 1776, explained that she doubted most of the Virginians had such "passion for Liberty" as they claimed they did, since they "deprive[d] their fellow Creatures" of freedom.^[2]

A notable incident regarding this happened in Philadelphia in 1791, where a free black youth came to her house asking to be taught how to write. Subsequently, she placed the boy in a local evening school, though not without objections from a neighbor. Adams responded that he was "a Freeman as much as any of the young Men and merely because his Face is Black, is he to be denied instruction? How is he to be qualified to procure a livelihood? … I have not thought it any disgrace to my self to take him into my parlor and teach him both to read and write."

Religious beliefs

Adams, as well as her husband, was an active member of First Parish Church in Quincy, which became Unitarian in doctrine by 1753.^{[citation needed]} Like her husband, her theological views evolved over the course of her life. In a letter to her son near the end of her life, dated May 5, 1816, she wrote of her religious beliefs:

I acknowledge myself a unitarian – Believing that the Father alone, is the supreme God, and that Jesus Christ derived his Being, and all his powers and honors from the Father ... There is not any reasoning which can convince me, contrary to my senses, that three is one, and one three.^[2]

She also asked Louisa Adams in a letter dated January 3, 1818, "When will Mankind be convinced that true Religion is from the Heart, between Man and his creator, and not the imposition of Man or creeds and tests?"^{[citation needed]}

Legacy

Abigail Adams by Gilbert Stuart

Historian Joseph Ellis has found that the 1200 letters between John and Abigail "constituted a treasure trove of unexpected intimacy and candor, more revealing than any other correspondence between a prominent American husband and wife in American history."^[8] Ellis (2011) says that Abigail, although self-educated, was a better and more colorful letter-writer than John, even though John was one of the best letter-writers of the age. Ellis argues that Abigail was the more resilient and more emotionally balanced of the two, and calls her one of the most extraordinary women in American history.^[8]

Memorials

A cairn — a mound of rough stones – crowns the nearby Penn Hill from which she and her son, John Quincy, watched the Battle of Bunker Hill and the burning of Charlestown. At that time she was minding the children of Dr. Joseph Warren, president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, who was killed in the battle.^{[citation needed]} An Adams Memorial has been proposed in Washington, D.C., honoring Adams, her husband and other members of their family. One of the subpeaks of New Hampshire's Mount Adams (whose main peak is named for her husband) is named in her honor.^[9]

Popular culture

Passages from Adams' letters to her husband figured prominently in songs from the Broadway musical 1776.^[2] Virginia Vestoff played Adams in the original 1969 Broadway production of 1776 and recreated the role for the film version in 1972. On television, Kathryn Walker and Leora Dana in the 1976 PBS mini-series The Adams Chronicles. In the mini-series John Adams, which premiered in March 2008 on HBO, she was played by Laura Linney. Linney enjoyed portraying Adams, saying that "she is a woman of both passion and principle."^[5] Adams is a featured figure on Judy Chicago's installation piece The Dinner Party, being represented as one of the 999 names on the Heritage Floor.^[10]

Portrait on currency

The First Spouse Program under the Presidential $1 Coin Act authorizes the United States Mint to issue half-ounce $10 gold coins and bronze medal duplicates^[11] to honor the first spouses of the United States. The Abigail Adams coin was released on June 19, 2007, and sold out in just hours. She is pictured on the back of the coin writing her most famous letter to John Adams. In February 2009 Coin World reported that some 2007 Abigail Adams medals were struck using the reverse from the 2008 Louisa Adams medal, apparently by mistake.^[12] These pieces, called mules, were contained within the 2007 First Spouse medal set.^[12] The U.S. Mint has not released an estimate of how many mules were made.

• 

  Obverse

• 

  Reverse

• 

  Obverse (bronze medal)

• 

  Reverse (bronze medal)

• 

  Mule Reverse (bronze medal)

Ancestry

Abigail Adams counted among her ancestors the leaders of the Congregationalist church in the Massachusetts colony and the prominent Quincy family. Through the latter, she was a descendant of the House of Beaufort, an illegitimate branch of the English House of Plantagenet, making her a distant cousin to King George III, who was King of the United Kingdom during the American Revolution.^{[citation needed]}

Ancestors of Abigail Adams

4. William Smith                             2. Reverend William Smith                                   5. Abigail Fowle                             1. Abigail Smith Adams                                         24. Edmund Quincy               12. Daniel Quincy                       25. Joanna Hoar               6. Colonel John Quincy                             26. Thomas Shephard               13. Anna Shephard                       27. Anna Tyng               3. Elizabeth Quincy                                   14. John Norton                       7. Elizabeth Norton                             15. Mary Mason

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Kathryn Cullen-DuPont (August 1, 2000). Encyclopedia of women's history in America. Infobase Publishing. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-0-8160-4100-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=oIro7MtiFuYC&pg=PA374. Retrieved 2011-11-28. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Laurie Carter Noble, "Abigail Adams"
3. ^ This Day in History in 1828, www.history.com, retrieved 3-13-2008
4. ^ G. J. Barker-Benfield, "Stillbirth and Sensibility The Case of Abigail and John Adams," Early American Studies, An Interdisciplinary Journal, Spring 2012, Vol. 10 Issue 1, pp 2–29
5. ^ ^{a b} Garry Wills, Henry Adams and the Making of America, 2005; p. 24; Wills cites the criticisms of Paul Nagel "and others"
6. ^ McCullough, David (September 2002). John Adams. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-7432-2313-3. http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/05/27/reviews/010527.27maiert.html. Retrieved 2010-11-27. 
7. ^ Adams, John; Adams, Abigail (March–May 1776). "Letters of Abigail Adams". Letters Between Abigail Adams and Her Husband John Adams. liz library. http://www.thelizlibrary.org/suffrage/abigail.htm. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Cited in Wood (2011)
9. ^ Taylor, Bethany (Fall/Summer 2011). "Abigail Adams Joins the Presidential Range". Appalachia (Appalachian Mountain Club) (Volume 62, No. 2): p. 132. 
10. ^ Chicago, 169.
11. ^ U.S. Mint: First Spouse Program. Accessed 2008-06-27. "The United States Mint also produces and make available to the public bronze medal duplicates of the First Spouse Gold Coins."
12. ^ ^{a b} Gilkes, Paul (February 16, 2009). "First Spouse medals set holds Adams mule". Coin World 50 (2549): 1. "Some collectors have begun receiving a First Spouse medal mule – a piece bearing the obverse for Abigail Adams and a reverse intended for the Louisa Adams medal. The mules surfaced in some of the 2007 First Spouse sets..." 

Bibliography

• Barker-Benfield, G.J. Abigail and John Adams: The Americanization of Sensibility (University of Chicago Press; 2010).
• Bober, Natalie S. 1995. Abigail Adams: Witness to a revolution New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division.
• Chicago, Judy. The Dinner Party: From Creation to Preservation. London: Merrell (2007). ISBN 1-85894-370-1
• Ellis, Joseph J. First Family: Abigail and John Adams (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010).
• Gelles, Edith B. Portia: The World of Abigail Adams (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991).
• Gelles, Edith B. First Thoughts: Life and Letters of Abigail Adams (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1998), reissued as Abigail Adams: A Writing Life (London and New York: Routledge, 2002).
• Gelles, Edith B. Abigail and John: Portrait of a Marriage (New York: William Morrow, 2009) – finalist for the 2010 George Washington Book Prize.
• Holton, Woody. Abigail Adams: A Life (New York: Free Press, 2009) – winner of the 2010 Bancroft Prize.
• Kaminski, John P., editor The Quotable Abigail Adams (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009).
• Nagel, Paul C. 1987. The Adams Women: Abigail and Louisa Adams, Their Sisters and Daughters. New York: {Oxford University Press}. ISBN 0-19-503874-6
• Withey, Lynne. Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams (2002)
• Wood, Gordon S. "Those Sentimental Americans," New York Review of Books May 12, 2011 online

Primary sources

• The Letters of John and Abigail Adams ed by Frank Shuffelton (2003)

External links

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Abigail Adams

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Abigail Adams

• Short summary of Abigail's Life
• Texts on Wikisource:
  • Letter to Abigail Adams – June 21, 1785, from Thomas Jefferson
  • Letter to Abigail Adams – September 25, 1785, from Thomas Jefferson
  • Letter to Abigail Adams – February 22, 1787, from Thomas Jefferson
  • “Abigail Adams, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Shaw, Mrs. Cranch, Elizabeth Clay” in The Women of the American Revolution by Elizabeth F. Ellet (1849)
  • "Adams, Abigail". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. 
  • "Adams, Abigail Smith". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. 
  • "Adams, Abigail Smith". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. 
• Abigail Adams public domain audiobooks from LibriVox
• Adams family biographies – Massachusetts Historical Society
• Collection of Abigail Adams Letters
• My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams, Harvard University Press
• The Adams Women: Abigail and Louisa Adams, Their Sisters and Daughters, Harvard University Press
• Descent from Glory: Four Generations of the John Adams Family, Harvard University Press
• Adams Family Correspondence. Cambridge: Harvard University Press
• Abigail Adams Birthplace – Museum in Weymouth, Massachusetts
• Ancestors of Abigail Smith
• "Abigail Smith Adams". Find a Grave. Jan 1, 2001. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=4. Retrieved 2011-08-17. 

Honorary titles
Preceded by New Title	Second Lady of the United States 1789–1797	Succeeded by Ann Gerry
Preceded by Martha Dandridge Custis Washington	First Lady of the United States 1797–1801	Succeeded by Martha Jefferson Randolph

v t e First Ladies of the United States Martha Washington Abigail Adams Martha Jefferson Randolph Dolley Madison Elizabeth Monroe Louisa Adams Emily Donelson Sarah Jackson Angelica Van Buren Anna Harrison Jane Harrison Letitia Tyler Priscilla Tyler Julia Tyler Sarah Polk Margaret Taylor Abigail Fillmore Jane Pierce Harriet Lane Mary Lincoln Eliza Johnson Julia Grant Lucy Hayes Lucretia Garfield Mary McElroy Rose Cleveland Frances Cleveland Caroline Harrison Mary Harrison Frances Cleveland Ida McKinley Edith Roosevelt Helen Taft Ellen Wilson Edith Wilson Florence Harding Grace Coolidge Lou Hoover Eleanor Roosevelt Bess Truman Mamie Eisenhower Jacqueline Kennedy Lady Bird Johnson Pat Nixon Betty Ford Rosalynn Carter Nancy Reagan Barbara Bush Hillary Clinton Laura Bush Michelle Obama

v t e Second Ladies of the United States Abigail Adams Ann Gerry Hannah Minthorne Tompkins Floride Calhoun Letitia Christian Tyler Sophia Dallas Abigail Fillmore Mary Cyrene Burch Breckinridge Ellen Vesta Emery Hamlin Eliza Johnson Ellen Maria Colfax Eliza Hendricks Anna Morton Letitia Stevenson Jennie Tuttle Hobart Edith Roosevelt Cornelia Cole Fairbanks Carrie Babcock Sherman Lois Irene Marshall Grace Coolidge Caro Dawes Mariette Rheiner Garner Ilo Wallace Bess Truman Jane Hadley Barkley Pat Nixon Lady Bird Johnson Muriel Humphrey Judy Agnew Betty Ford Happy Rockefeller Joan Mondale Barbara Bush Marilyn Quayle Tipper Gore Lynne Cheney Jill Biden

Persondata
Name	Adams, Abigail
Alternative names	Smith, Abigail
Short description	first Second Lady of the United States, second First Lady of the United States
Date of birth	November 11, 1744
Place of birth	Weymouth, Province of Massachusetts Bay
Date of death	October 28, 1818
Place of death	Quincy, Massachusetts, USA

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