Abigail Adams : A Revolutionary Woman

Abigail Adams was born on November 11, 1744 in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Her father was William Smith, an ordained minister, and mother, Elizabeth Quincy. Abigail is the second born of three sisters and one brother. She was very short with brown hair and brown eyes. She did not go to public school, however, she was taught to read and write at home and had access to her father and grandfather’s libraries. Abigail loved poetry, reading and memorizing “poems of Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, and James Thomson” (McMichael, 1).

This letter is a fine example of Abigail Adams' strong feminist and strong federalist views. These letters represented the turmoil felt by women during the uncertain times facing the colonies. The views of Abigail Adams became the first in a long line of cries out for women's equality.

Linda Kerber’s Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America was a refreshing historian analysis of the role of women in our nation’s history. In the early Revolution eras, the political role of women was nonexistent due to the traditional roles held by the patriarchal society the colonists lived in for most of their years. Kerber intertwined her book with an intelligent analysis, but also conveys this analysis in a clear way so that reader can comprehend further. Throughout the book, chapters divide each segment of women’s rights by explaining the slow, but progressive build of them. The exploration of womens rights in Women of the Republic is developed by each opportunity opened during the American Revolution.

Abigail Adams was a woman of high character and a loving soul. She was selfless in her thinking and remarkable in the way she handled people. Her management skills were above average for the normal female in the 1700s. She held many worldly interests that tied her to the political fashion of society. She was well cultured and was able to apply this to her role of a politician’s wife with great attributes towards society. She became the “buffer” with regard to her husband's temper and lack of diplomacy. She participated in many political activities. Her independent thinking, character, faithfulness, and hard work gave her the ability to succeed in society in the 17th century. Even though Abigail Adams was not formerly

Letter to John Adams from Abigail Adams and Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams wrote a letter to her husband John Adams called Remember the Ladies. Abigail is writing this letter during the Revolutionary War. The timing of the letter is significant because the country is at war for freedom and equality. In her letter Abigail pleas with her husband for women’s equality. Abigail’s purpose for writing to John regarding women’s equality is so that he will think of women as they adopt new laws. Throughout the letter Abigail uses different points of view, word choice, and varying tones to persuade her husband to see the need for laws that are considerate of women.

“I long to hear that you have declared an independency.And by the way,in 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 you ancestors,”said Abigail adams.Abigail Adams life along time ago, her impact in the war,and after war shows how truly incredible she was for many people.

* Abigail was born to Reverend William Smith and his wife Elizabeth in Weymouth parsonage in Massachusetts.

Adams recognized the limited role women were allowed to play in the world at that time. However, she insisted that a woman's role carried an equal amount of importance and responsibility to a man's. She believed that

With the marriage to John Adams, Abigail gained more than just a family and a husband she gained a greater independence for herself and for the women in the colonies. John Adams was a political man and devoted his life to politics. Abigail spent majority of her married years alone and raising a family by herself, with the help of family and servants. It was during these years that Abigail started writing a tremendous amount of letters. She wrote to family and friends but most importantly to her husband John. In the letters to her husband she was able to express her feelings about situations that were happening in the family and colonies. She wrote encouraging words that helped him through troubled times in politics. With the absence of her husband during her second pregnancy,

Withey’s book also includes much information about the politics and government of the time, while also painting a portrait of Abigail Adams as an intelligent, resourceful, and outspoken woman, as well as involving details of her domestic life, with excerpts from multiple letters that she and John wrote to each other. The reader is able to read these passages and understand the public and reserved sides of Abigail Adams, who was both a believer in the emancipation of slavery and an early feminist, and had advised her husband of keeping women in mind while he

Once again, the only way Abigail could communicate with him were letters. The letters this time were full of even more meaning because Abigail would report what she knew about the British and what they were doing. She knew how important this all was. She even took young John Quincy to the top of Penn’s Hill to watch the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17,1775. Although not all the people saw eye to eye with Abigail on her ideas, her husband agreed with her. In June of 1776 John was appointed to the committee of five men to help create the Declaration of Independence. Abigail was very please but she still longed for more. She had a broader idea then the delegates, she believed both sexes should have equal rights. In one of her most famous letter she wrote “remember the ladies, and be more favorable to the than your ancestors”. While they did adopt the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 it failed to give rights to women or blacks. Abigail was not discouraged and that was good because there would be many more chances for her to make a difference. John was soon appointed head of the Board of War and would turn to Abigail in seek of help many times. He valued his wife’s opinion and once even wrote “I want to hear you think or see your thoughts”. In a letter she wrote to him at one point of his job as the board leader said “These are times a genius would wish to live…great necessities call out great virtues (Page

The Letters of John and Abigail Adams provides an insightful record of American life before, during, and after the Revolution. The letters also reveal the intellectually and emotionally fulfilling relationship between John and Abigail that lasted fifty-four years and withstood historical upheavals, long periods apart, and personal tragedies. Covering key moments in American history - the Continental Congress, the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, and John Adams's diplomatic missions to Europe - the letters reveal the concerns of a couple living during a period of explosive change, from smallpox and British warships to raising children, paying taxes, the state of women, and the emerging concepts of American

Adams’ political work in the revolutionary movement, the spouses were often separated, leaving Abigail to raise all five children on her own in addition to purchasing land and renting out to and managing tenants. Abigail learned to single-handedly manage their home and estate while John was out working the political and legal track.The fact that she was so self- sufficient served her well, as this was the first of many separations during their fifty-nine-year long marriage. Abigail managing the household allowed John to focus on his reformational work. Abigail educated all five children, arranged smallpox vaccines for the whole house, managed all finances and ran all farm-related manners. To protest tax acts from the British, Abigail wove and created clothing from all her own cloth. In one of their many letters, John jokingly chastised Abagail for working so hard. While this may be the norm now, a woman managing a household was unthinkable in the past. Abigail broke down all these walls and norms in many

For this assignment, I have chosen to write about Abigail Smith Adams. She was the wife of the United States second president, and mother of the sixth. She was born November 1744 and died October 1818. Growing up she was no different from any other girl, she was educated at home, learning reading and writing and skills like sewing and cooking. Her family had servants who lived with them. As a woman, she always regretted the lack of education she had, therefore she wanted women to have equal education as men did. While her husband, John, was working on building his career Abigail stepped up and traded livestock, bought and sold land, and supervised the planting and harvesting of crops on the family farm. I believe that during her time, she set