Abigail Adams Summary

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

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 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.

Abigail Adams’ letter stated, “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 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.” Abigail tells John that women will not stand for the maltreatment in a new republic, she then explains that men should not be given any authority that can be used against women, and society should treat women as equals. John not only disagree with Abigail’s letter, but also wrote back saying, “…we know better than to repeal our Masculine

The main point of this chapter was to showcase the religious, family-oriented background that Abigail was raised in. It explains why she is so focused on her family and John later in her life. It also explains her penname “Diana” and her love for literature and being involved in politics, after being taught to read at a young age.

As members of Congress drafted laws to guarantee the independence for which the colonies were fighting, Abigail wrote to John begging him to remember that women also needed to be given the right to independence. Her most famous letter about the need for women's rights was written to John on March 31, 1776:

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,

    Abigail Adams was also a very intelligent woman for her time.  She was never formally educated, but she wanted to be as educated as she could be.  Instead of being formally educated she was educated through her peers, friends, family members, and books.  Being a female it wasn’t seen as important for a women to get a formal education, “Female education in the best of families went no further than writing and arithmetic.” (Holton, 7).  They were suppose to focus on the family and the work at home.  She loved reading.  Her education played a great role in her relationship with her husband John Adams.  For example, John gave Abigail books as a way to win her over, because he knew her love for expanding her knowledge.  They also would show off to each other their own knowledge, and while doing so Abigail learned many new things.  Abigail was also very involved in the politics that were going on around her.  She kept up with them very religiously.  While John was away she would write to him about the politics going on at home and she felt about them.  She wanted to be educated in politics and believed that women should have more rights.  Overall Abigail didn’t let gender restrictions, or any other ideas or practices get in the way of

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

One particular letter from Abigail Adams to her husband John that would later have great impact in Congress was the one she printed on March 31, 1776. This particular letter urged John to not forget about the women when they were fighting for independence against Great Britain. She included that unlimited power should not all be put into the hands of the husbands. She stated that if attention was not focused more on the women, there would be a rebellion and the ladies would not hold themselves bound by any laws where they have no say in anything. This particular letter was a first step in the fight for equal rights for women. Finally, nearly 150 years after Abigail penned that letter to John while he was away in Philadelphia and Abigail was

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

Another eighteenth century revolutionary woman, Jane Austen, declared, “I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives.” Like acclaimed novelist Jane Austen, Abigail Adams and Martha Ballard rejected the patriarch’s ideal image and norm for women. They challenged gender differences and stereotypes and advocated additional opportunities and further education for women. In Abigail Adams: A Life, Woody Holton details Adams’ development from a giddy girl into the sophisticated, sassy woman who did not stand in her husband’s shadow. She took her life by the reigns and never stopped learning. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich similarly accounts for Martha Ballard’s journey as a successful midwife and family woman in A Midwife’s Tale, letting Martha’s voice flow from the pages through excerpts of her conserved diary. Ballard maintained a separate life from her husband and controlled her responsibilities. In the two biographies, the authors determined to honor the two women’s crusades for gender equality and through life, their obstacles with religion, family, and sensibility to their surroundings.