John Adams Letter Rhetorical Analysis

In the letter Abigail Adams wrote to her son, she touches on a few key points. In this she is trying to bring honor and dignity to her family, but also encourage her son to enjoy and learn whilst abroad in the new world. Adam’s emphasizes the importance of her son’s journey by comparing him to influential men, qualifying him to honor his family with the privilege, he’s been given, and employing the acknowledgement of his challenges to push him forward.

The first idea is to remember the ladies. She states that men should not be given all the power. If the ladies are paid no attention it was bound to inspire a rebellion against this tyrant like behavior. If women have no voice, they will not be happy. If men need the title of master women will act differently than if they called themselves their wives’ friend. All these ideas are voiced in the letter she wrote. John expressed his ideas about women and how he thinks they should not vote in the new government. Both made valid points.

     The book, John Adams, by David McCullough, is a powerfully written biography of one of our nation’s greatest heroes. This biography explores Adams’ life in great depth, unveiling a side to his life unbeknownst to those who have never studied his life in great detail. Through diary entries, letters, and various other documents, the reader grasps a sense of what Adams’ day to day life was like, and is also able to grasp the enormity of his lifetime accomplishments.

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.

In a new nation in which there is war and inflation a worried mother, Abigail Adams, in her letter to her son who is away on a trip, advices her son of the greatness he is worth despite all bad happening around them. Adams’ purpose is to help her son in the worst of times. She adopts a loving tone by using pathos, allusions, and metaphors in order to reach her son and provide the support he needs to ignite the fire that is his confidence.

The tone of Abigail’s letter to John is more sincere than his letter to her. In her letter you can tell that even though she does not agree with some of his stands on issues she still loves and supports him. The tone of John’s letter is dry, with not much emotion. He doesn’t show much concern for her or her ideals. The only evidence of intimacy found is when they discuss their children. In Abigail’s letter intimacy is also found when the reader finds that she misses him and worries about him and when she says she is willing to do anything he needs.

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.

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

In this letter, Abigail talks about how women at the time had no representation as she said in her last words of the letter. Mrs. Adams went on to say Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could ”(Document 7).” She is referring to King George in this quote and is saying they are treating their women like King George treated the colonists. She is reminding them of the revolution and how radical it was in that sense but is contrasting this with how revolutionary it should have been for women. Needless to say, her letter went unanswered until years later when women’s suffrage finally had enough momentum be heard. It took all the way till 1920 for her letter to be answered in the form of women’s right to vote. If the men did not like how the king treated them how much more should they not act in the same manner towards women as the King did towards colonists? The slow and unanswered social dilemma shows just how conservative change was at this

Abigail Adams managed the family farm while her husband, John, was at at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Abigail waited a long while with anticipation, waiting to get good news of success from the congress. While her husband made fun of her for her claims calling her “saucy” she knew early in the conflict that this would lead to q fight for equality and liberty that would affect the U.S. for decades to come. In 1775, after the fighting at Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. The problems discussed here included raising and supplying an army, and trying to negotiate with England and its stubborn king.

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.

Abigail Adams, “Remember the Ladies” was one of the first letters that acknowledged her desire for women’s rights and equality during the time women were trying to find their place in society. She requested that John Adams include women in the Declaration of Independence because she believed they should have the same equal rights as men and, not be excluded. For example, Abigail said, “...That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend. Why then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity. Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your Sex. Regard us then as Beings placed by providence under your protection and in imitation of the Supreme Being make use of that power only for our happiness.” Abigail is suggesting that men put their egos aside and change the way women are viewed and the male domination in their society. She expressed that smart men knew women were humans just like men and, more valuable than society’s standards. And, should be treated fairly, like spouses than slaves. She believed men should allow women to contribute to conversations about the future of their

After the first shots of the Revolutionary war; revolutionaries adopt the Declaration of independence of 1776 that declared “All men are created equal”, but it did not include women. After the revolutionary war not change the old ideas and the married women status where they continue be a “coverture, it means a married women had no legal or economic status independent of her husband” (pp.187). Some women see how in the new republican failed to women’s rights, these women were Abigail Adams, Judith Sargent Murray, and Mercy Otis Warren. Abigail Adams wrote a letter to her husband, John Adam, she wrote “remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power in the husbands”; she wants that women will be independence and had rights and not only depend of a man. Judith Sargent Murray was another woman who argued that women’s minds were as good as any man’s and that girls should receive the same education as boys; she believed in the same educational opportunities because at the time, girls received little or no education.

The year 1776 future first lady Abigail Adams wrote to her dear husband advising him to think of the ladies when drafting America’s newest “code of laws”. Mrs. Adams asserted that “...all men would be tyrants if they could”. For all history has shown women have been forced to abide by the overbearing rule of men. A push for change was needed and her work would soon help shape America’s society.