Abigail Adams Rhetorical Analysis Essay

On January 12, 1780, Abigail Adams writes a letter to her youngest son John Quincy Adams. Adams writes the letter for the soul purpose of informing her son on how important it is for him to travel to France. In her letter, Abigail Adams encourages her son to continue his journey of triumph. In Adams letter, she uses allusion, ethos, and pathos, to express her ideas of advise to John. Adams continuously appeals to her son’s emotions by emphasizing that she wants him to be successful in life and aiding him in realizing that she cares enough to push him to be the best that he can be.

Throughout the letter, Adams had to explain why she thought that her son was wise and a great man. In the Adams letter Abigail gave many reasons on why she believed that her son was a great man and was proud of him. In the letter she thought of him as a wise man from the advantages he has done. Adams believed that he would grow up to be a wise man just like the men in the past as she compared him to the letter. In her letter she gave many reasons why she was proud of him to be wise and a great man as he grew up on his voyage to

From the very beginning, Adams tone expresses her desire for her son to listen to her. The apologetic note that she opens with appears to hope that any anger or bitterness towards her from her son would be squashed so that he could see that she only had his best interests at her by “making” go on the journey. The concerned tone she uses displays her hope that he take the advice she is granting him and use it towards his advantage. She depicts her optimism when she explains that the voyage would be beneficial to him hoping he would understand that as his mother, she only wants is best for him. Adams goes on to use the parental tone by explaining that he has opportunities others do not have and that he should capitalize on them.

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

Adams establishes her credibility by not only being John Quincy Adams mother, but by also being the wife of the soon-to-be President of the United States. Her ethos helps reassure John that he is following the right path because he is following his mother’s advice. With her ethos, she clearly expresses how important his travels are, but she won’t have to worry about him not listening or not following her advice. She is able to put in the allusion to the past without it sounding like a lecture. She uses her pathos to encourage her son, knowing that the respect at the end of his travels would be worth the

In 1870, Abigail Adams writes to her son John Quincy Adams, the future president of the United States, in an attempt to convince him of travel and diligence. In her letter Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, Abigail Adams uses a series of rhetorical devices and a strong parental tone to goad her son to take advantage of every opportunity that he gets. Adams achieves her purpose by pointing out the logic of her argument, targeting his emotions, and using a maternal tone to elicit the response that she desires. Abigail Adams appeals to logos in pointing out the logic of what she is trying to get her son to do. By having a logical argument, she is bound to convince her audience that what she is saying is the right way to go.

The author of this document is Abigail Adams, a white female that is married to John Adams. She lives in a time where women have no form of representation, and they live in the shadow of men. Because of this, Abigail takes up a woman’s traditional role and performs activities such as manufacture clothing for her family, soap making, creating gun/cannon powder for her husband, and other chores for the benefit of her household (Adams, Paragraph 12). Fulfilling this role has shaped her by securing her inferiority to her husband and other males. She as a woman lacks power both socially and politically when it comes to the opposite gender; however, it is just this that has cultivated her attitude towards her government, the male sex, and even her own spouse. By requesting that her husband remember to give rights to women, it shows that she was brave enough to present her opinions even though they were unwelcomed (Adams, Paragraph 9). She is headstrong in the sense that she is willing to rebel if she does not receive the proper representation that she is asking for. Also, by mentioning that the women would rebel, Abigail displays her intelligence because she could foresee the inevitable future if women’s rights were not improved (Adams, Paragraph 9). She sees the world for what it is, unjust. Moreover, her social and political inferiority did not result in ignorance. Based on her vocabulary, writing style, and comprehension/expression of such complex ideas, she reveals that she is

Abigail Adams was a wise and educated woman that had one wonderful but challenging life. Like any other women in the 1700s, she grew up to become someone’s wife, bear children and live in the private life of her husband’s house. Abigail has a slightly different story than other women though. She grew up with her sisters and brother and had a tutor so they became literate, which was not a thing for women. Educated men didn’t want a wife that was smart, they wanted someone to take care of them and the children and just about nothing else. In the following paragraphs we will talk about who the author is, a back story of who Abigail is, and the thesis of the book as a whole.

Throughout Adams’ letter, she persuades her son by appealing to pathos in order to demonstrate how highly she thinks of her son. Clarifying, “Nothing is wanting with you but attention, diligence, and steady application,” Adams reassures that she is not trying to change her son, or turn him into a hero, but for him to gain experience and become a well-rounded person. Adams also acknowledges her sons disinterest in the voyage, “If I had thought your reluctance arose from proper deliberation or that you were

Abigail Adams writes a letter to her son while he is exploring with his father, a U.S president John Adams. Adams meticulously constructs a piece of writing that emphasizes the importance of their journey and summarizes her high expectations for him.

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,

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

In 1793, John Adams commented to his beloved wife regarding his long time favorable friend, Thomas Jefferson, that “His mind is now poisoned with passion, prejudice, and faction”. Adams was relating to Thomas Jefferson’s retirement from the secretary of state that in no doubt, designed disturbances for Adams. John Adams’ discomforts raised because of Jefferson’s political standpoints and his self-evident lies that Jefferson himself, came to believe. To see these characteristics of Jefferson’s, all we need to do is simply analyze Adams’ remarks to his wife, Abigail.

Born on November 11, 1744, Abigail Smith entered the world in the Massachusetts colony during troublesome time of England rule that was destined to end one day.1 Her family was well respected in the town of Weymouth, where she was born. Her father, William Smith, was a Congregational minister and her mother, Elizabeth Quincy, hailed from a prominent family in the colony.2 Abigail spent her time at her grandmother’s house where she was schooled in English, French, and history, meanwhile, gaining a well-rounded education from the many hours she spent in her father’s library. Her mother’s father, John Quincy, was a member of the colonial Governor’s council and colonel of the militia. He was also the Speaker of the Massachusetts Assembly, a

Abigail Adams faced many hardships throughout her life. She was the daughter of a minister and had two sisters and a brother. In the 1700’s, children did not have a high survival rate due to the amount of diseases and nothing to treat them with. Abigail Adams said in her old age that she “was always sick” (Akers 5). This reminds people how tough life was in the 1700’s and how easy it was to pass away from a mere cold. Abigail also did not have any education growing up. Women, in the colonial era, were not supposed to have an education and were supposed to watch the kids, cook, and clean. Readers of this book learn that many women back then were illiterate and were self-taught, if they had any education. Abigail did find a love for literature due to her sister’s spouse, Richard Cranch. He influenced her love for literature at a young age and she started to become more literate. Along with the disease and educational deficiency, women were considered as property. A young woman could either give up