Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams was born on November 11, 1744 in Weymouth, Massachusetts, which was about fifteen miles from south Boston. Her parents were William Smith and Elizabeth Quincy Smith, both of their families had lived in colonies for several generations. She had two sisters and a brother; Mary, Betsy and Billy. They had a very good childhood however; Abigail was very shy but also very determined and stubborn. She was also sick most of her childhood and annoyed by her mother's overprotective nature, her father on the other hand was a lot more relaxed and easy going. The Smiths had many visitors and their relatives lived nearby so they also stopped by often (Gale, 2006). Abigail developed a strict sense of values and strong moral fiber that would serve to be the foundation for later life.

Like most woman in that time Abigail did not get a formal education. Education was considered an obstacle for woman in these days. The Woman also believed that if they were educated then men would pass them by for someone that was not educated. For a woman to concentrate on their education as Abigail did was very brave. She taught herself a lot of what she learned out of curiosity and interest. Abigail took after her father in a lot of ways: she loved to read poetry, drama, theology, and political theory. The older that Abigail got the more she wanted to educate herself, she became known as the best-read woman of her time. Even though Abigail had taught herself to read and write her lack of education still bothered her. She was embarrassed that her penmanship, punctuation, and spelling were still very poor in quality but this did not stop her from educating herself (Noble).

Abigail and John Adams meet at her sister's wedding for the first time when Abigail was fifteen years old but Adams was not interested in her at this time he had his eye on another woman. However, when John and Abigail meet again two years later they formed a friendship, relationship, and companionship. Their courtship lasted for five years. They wrote often, and she signed her letters, "Portia". He welcomed her insights. They were married on October the 25th, 1764 in her father's parlor and her father also married. This started one of history's great partnerships. The young couple then moved into the house in Quincy, Massachusetts next to the one in which John was born. John took pride in all of Abigail's accomplishments. He often complimented her on how well she was able to do tasks around the house in his absence. Their neighbors also would make remarks about how well things would go in John's absence (Noble). Within eight years Abigail and John had five children: Abigail (Nabby), John Quincy, Susanna (she had passes away at 13 months old), Charles, Thomas, and there was a sixth child but that was stillborn.

John Adams was perusing a career as a lawyer and then a delegate to the Continental Congress, envoy abroad, and elected officer under the Constitution. All of these things kept him away from home for long periods of time and as he got more involved in his career his absences from home grew longer and became more often. Abigail hated it when her husband was gone. She missed the companionship of her best friend (Noble). Abigail wrote letters to John that was pungent, witty, and vivid, spelled just as she spoke. The letters tell the story of the woman who stayed at home to struggle with wartime shortages and inflation; to run the farm with a minimum of help; to teach four children when formal education was interrupted. Above anything else these letters showed the loneliness that Abigail had felt when her husband was away.

Abigail Adams was a strong advocate for woman's rights in America. She believed that woman should have equal amount of importance of men. She also thought that woman deserved the same opportunities and rights such as education, legal, and political rights. Her greatest frustration was that woman was not allowed to receive the most basic education. She strongly believed that education was as important to woman as it was to men since the woman were responsible for training there children. In shock to Abigail's thoughts John was in complete agreement with her feelings towards educating the woman of America. She also believed that woman should not submit to laws that were clearly not made in their interest. She said that woman should not content themselves with the role of being decorous companions to their husbands (Noble). She made her strongest appeal for Woman's rights in 1776, when John was in Philadelphia. Abigail wrote to her husband and the letter stated "In the new code of laws which I suppose will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them then 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." (Flexner, pg 14) This was to remind him that woman also needed independence. At first John had laughed about the letter that Abigail had wrote him but after doing more thinking he decided that he should speak up and say something regarding her issues. Abigail Adams brought around many changes in the way that woman were treated she was the first to start the changes but ultimately she will not be the last.

Abigail and John had strong beliefs in anti-slavery. They believed that it was cruel, evil and a threat to the democratic experiment. On March 31, 1776 she wrote that she doubted the distinguished Virginians in the corridors of power had quite the "Passion for Liberty" they claimed that since they had been used to "depriving their fellow creatures of freedom (Noble).

In 1971 Abigail wrote her husband another letter but this time it was about a little black boy that wanted to attend school to learn how to read and write. Abigail being who she was did enroll the boy in one of the local evening classes. However, there were people that looked negatively on this; they did not like the black boy's presence in the school. Abigail quickly responded to these comments by saying "He is a freeman as much of any of the young men and merely because his face is black, he is to be denied instruction? How is he to be qualified to procure a livelihood? I have not thought it any disgrace to my self to take him into my parlor and teach him both to read and write." After she stated this no more comments were made about the boy attending any of the classes (Noble).

When Washington and Adams were both in