Abigail Adams’ Letters.

Remember the ladies 1776

Martina Becerra Fuello 53349865P

This is a epistolary literary, and now historical, text as it is an extract of one of

the letters written by Abigail Adams to her husband John Adams that were published by
her grandson Charles Francis Adams in 1848, this particular letter is a two part letter,
the first part written on March 31 and the second one on April 5 of 1776. These letters
were private correspondence between Abigail and John Adams as he spent a lot of time
away due to his work in law and later his career in politics as he was politically active
during the Revolution and the Independence War, he also was one of the Founding
Fathers and the 2nd President of the United States. At the time this letter was written he
was away in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the Second Continental Congress, where the
Declaration of Independence was proclaimed later that year, on July 4, 1776, while
Abigail stayed taking care of the children and the family farm in Massachusetts, it is
believed that they exchanged more than 1.100 letters.

In these letters she talked about how things were going at home and she gave a
lot of her political opinions, she was one of the biggest advocates of women’s rights of
the century. She was born in November 11, 1744 in Weymouth, Massachusetts. She was
descendent from the Quincy family, a well-kwon political family in the colony, she
didn’t receive a formal education as education was not usually given to any women at
the time, she was taught to read and write at home and given free access to her family’s
libraries which made her expand her education and open her mind, she also learnt a lot
by visiting her grandfather who helped shaping her values and provided her with a sense
of public duty and made her aware of the importance of freedom. Using her education,
she fought for women’s rights and for the end of slavery. In 1764 she married John
Adams and the moved to Braintree, Massachusetts, they had three sons, one of them
being John Quincy Adams who would be the 6th president of the United States, and two
daughters. Both Abigail and John had a vision of an independent nation, but Abigail’s
vision was broader for she believed all people regardless of their gender or race should
be granted equal rights in the new constitution and when the independence was being
debated through 1776 she began to press her argument in the letters she wrote to John
that the new government should try to set everyone as equals, but neither her husband
nor the delegates of the Continental Congress were that progressive and in the
Declaration of Independence they failed to guarantee the rights and liberties of people
of colour or women. During the following years she took active interest in his husband’s
presidential campaigns and they were the first family to ever move into the White
House, after her husband lost the re-elections she moved back to their family farm, and
left politics but she remained interested in national politics, on October 28, 1818 at the
age of 73 she died at her home in Quincy, Massachusetts.

This letter was written during a revolutionary time in North America’s history,
the century was period of growth for the 13 colonies, there was population and
economic growth. In the 1760’s Great Britain implemented new politics to control the
Empire which resulted in restrictions for the colonies, such as The Stamp Act in 1765 in
which Great Britain imposed new taxes. The revolution started on April 19, 1775 and
led to the American Revolutionary War which lasted until September 3, 1783; but on
July 4, 1776 The Founding Fathers, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander
Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Washington; signed
the Declaration of Independence.

The letter touches various topics, she starts by complaining as she thinks that he
doesn’t write her nearly as many letters or as long as what she writes to him. Then, she
changes the subject asking about politics and the political circumstances happening in
the country in which her husband is heavily involved, she gives her opinion and shows
concern about Virginia having slaves and how they are not that different to those how
they are trying to defeat, she believes that even if the colonies are fighting together there
are men in whom she cannot count on because they do not really believe in equal rights,
she thinks Virginia won’t make a good defence against Britain because they are
demonstrating that they are blood thirsty and savage and she hopes that they are not the
general specimen of men.

In the 3rd paragraph she talks about religion and Christian principles and
mentions again how some colonies are depriving people of their rights and how she
feels like this goes against their beliefs and what they stand for, she thinks that they
can’t ask for liberty and equality while depriving others of these same things, she stands
against slavery and for women’s rights.

She then moves on to women’s rights and she askes her husband to remember
the ladies when they create the new Code of Laws and give women more rights than
their ancestors did, she asks for women to have more power over themselves and to
have more representation, she states that men would be tyrants if they are given all of
the power over them, she says that it is indeed a truth that the male sex is naturally
tyrannical but she also thinks that some men, such as John, are willing to be friends of
women instead of being their masters. She wants to change this and rather be regarded
as beings placed by providence under the protection of men.

On April 5, she adds to the letter as she has not been able to send the letter
earlier, she explains to her husband how things are going at home, she tells John that her
neighbour Trot has lost two of their children in just one week due to the canker fever,
she says that many adults are also sick with it. These diseases were very common in the
century and many people died. She comes back to the first topic in the letter and
complains again about how he doesn’t write as much as she wants him to, and she has
not heard from him in almost a month.

She tells him that she is doing her best to produce Salt Peter and she has found a
manuscript which describes the proportions for the powder, and she offers to transcript
it and to send it to him if he thinks it could be of any help. She says that she has also
been making clothing for the family as at the time patriot families would not use the
clothes imported from Britain in order to do their best to boycott the British economy.

Finally, she mentions that his nephew has become ill and that everyone sends
him regards. She ends the letter calling herself his Friend, addressing once again the
issue of men being masters of their wives instead off having an equal relationship.

Sadly, Abigail’s words did not have much impact at the time, but with time the
change that she asked for has begun, but the existence of an 18 th century woman being
this open about her ideas of equality, especially to her husband who was a very
important political figure, is a precedent to all feminists in history.

This letters shows how women have always been bothered by the same issues
and how does power work, as people who has the power are never happy to hand it
over, just like Britain didn’t want to lose their power over the colonies, men didn’t want
to lose theirs over women or slaves. This is a fight that it is still going as there are many
places and many situations in which not everyone has the same rights. In my opinion
Abigail Adams is even to date a really progressive mind and if she were to be a man,
she would have been one of the most influential men of the time.
Bibliography:

Web:

https://www.nps.gov/adam/abigailbio.htm

https://www.biography.com/us-first-lady/abigail-adams#marriage-to-john-adams

http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=2

https://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/165adams-rtl.html

Book:

Oakland, J. (2016). British civilization. An introduction. Routledge, Eighth edition.