Abigail Adams: A Revolutionary American Woman Abigail Adams married a man destined to be a major leader of the American Revolution and the second President of the United States. Although she married and raised men that become such significant figures during their time, her herself was played an important role in the American society. The events that happened in her life, starting from childhood and ending in her adult years, led her to be a Revolutionary woman. Three main reasons behind her becoming such a strong, independent woman was the fact that she married a man who had an important role in politics, growing up with no education, and raising a family basically by herself. Growing up Abigail never attended a real school; she was …show more content…
The fact that she continued to read to further her knowledge and to learn more did not faze her that not many other women were doing as she was. At a young age she knew that “settling” with the roles of women during this time was a life that she had to choose but she also wanted more. She wanted to educate herself and that she did through the works of her favorite author’s books and poems. 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 started reading again. She read two volumes of Sermons to Young Women and she grew fond of reading them. She liked the fact that Fordyce, the author of the volume works, accepted the differences between the sexes. “God created woman to
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).
Abigail Adams was an influential woman of her time and one of the first avid supporters of women’s rights. Abigail Adams was important to history because without her contribution and hard work the women’s suffrage movement may have never been started or would not have been as successful as it is today.
Abigail Adams was and still is a hero and idle for many women in the United States. As the wife of John Adams, Abigail used her position to bring forth her own strong federalist and strong feminist views. Mrs. Adams was one of the earliest feminists and will always influence today's women.
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
Abigail tries to convey the general impact of the Revolution in Boston. She chose the details she did to try show John Adams what has changed in Boston as a result of the Revolution. She shares that the city is in a better condition that what she was expecting
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.
There were many historical events that took place in Abigail Adam’s early life that have an impact on why such a random person made a big difference in the Revolutionary War. Abigail Adams was born in Weymouth Massachusetts on November 11,1744. According to the text “Abigail Adams,” Abigail was home schooled and used her father's library that he had to improve her education. All this information that she learned would soon help her in political background knowledge in the Revolutionary war. In addition Abigail Adams was third cousins with John Adams long story short they then had feelings for each other.Three years later they got married and had 6 kids, John,Quincy,Susanna, Charles,Thomas and
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.
Abigail Adams an American Woman was written by Charles W. Akers. His biographical book is centered on Abigail Adams the wife of John Adams, the second president of the United States, and the mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president. She was the All-American woman, from the time of the colonies to its independence. Abigail Adams was America's first women's rights leader. She was a pioneer in the path to women in education, independence, and women's rights.
Part of the reason for this effectiveness has to do with the audience toward which both women direct their words. Abigail's letters are, of course, directed to her husband John Adams, a man of education and renown and soon to be President. It is quite obvious that Abigail Adams is perfectly in tune with her husband's psyche from the manner in which she so successfully utilizes what no doubt was considered a primarily feminine means of persuasion at the time: flattery. It would perhaps have been enough for many men for Abigail Adams simply to attempt to convince her husband that she is intelligent and educated-like those French women she admires in one of her letters. But in her infinite insight into the partner, Abigail Adams seems to think that she
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 in an era where women had no voice, and all the power was left in the hands of men and husbands. Women were just wives and mothers, who were only held responsible for motherly and wifely duties. Although women had much more to offer, and Abigail Adams was aware of women’s potential. So, she asked her husband John Adams to “Remember the Ladies” while fighting for Americas independence from Great Britain. She did not want him to give all the power to the men, and leave out the women’s voice and freedom they all desire.
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
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.
The American Revolution (1775-1783) was a time of great change in America. American men were fighting for their right to be free from an oppressive ruler 3000 miles away. They wanted to have their say about what went on in their own country. America won the Revolution and its freedom, but while this was going on something else was happening. Internally changes were coming about too during all this fighting. The Revolution was the catalyst for women to make progress towards freedom. Women were making economic and political gains to further women's rights.