Abigail Adams, First Lady

Through social media, I have reintroduced my fellow Americans to the founding fathers along with the Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States. Starting today, I would like to introduce you to the unsung heroes of our country, the First Ladies of America. The First Ladies of America were wives and daughters who were the hostesses for their respective Presidents while serving this great nation. Many of you don’t even know their names, much less the special qualities that made them unique as First Ladies. Many never did anything political, while more recent First Ladies used their position to create awareness of social issues. I will give you a little information for each one every Friday through this blog and then post it on social media. It’s time we learn about these amazing women and their accomplishments while their President was in office. This week we will meet Abigail Adams wife of John Adams and Mother of John Quincy Adams. 

Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams and the mother of a future president, John Quincy Adams. She was a strong woman who had to endure motherhood alone for ten years while her husband was off creating a new country and fighting for what was right. Not only did she endure to absence of her husband while he was in Philadelphia, but also for the next 10 years she had to be alone while John Adams was off representing the new United States in France.  We know of the struggles she had because of her letters to her husband and his responses. She was an avid letter writer, and those letters produced an intimate portrayal of life in the old and new country she lived in. There was also a devotion portrayed in their letters showing the love they shared and the support she gave her husband while he was arguing for the republic in the Continental Congress.

During the American Revolutionary war, Abigail was instrumental by getting involved in the letters of correspondence that relayed information to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia with important information of what was happening in Boston with the British forces and their plans. 

Abigail controlled the entire family farm which they owned, managing everything while John was away. She also handled the business affairs involved with the farm. As the Revolutionary War swept through the Colonies, she completely supported the right to independence. She was instrumental in asking her husband to think of the ladies when they were drafting the Declaration of Independence. Her fervent desire for women’s rights was foremost in her mind as she wrote to him. Unfortunately, she was unheard by her husband and the other delegates, as there was no room to include anything for women’s rights. Even though she wasn’t successful in that area she never gave up her fight for female education and the abolition of slavery.

When John Adams was in Europe, Abigail joined him in 1784 when he began to represent America as minister to Britain. All her letters back home contained tidbits of life in Paris and in London, sharing fashion, cultural differences, and court life as them being superior to everyone, even a farmer’s wife. She loved her farm life more than the court life of the Court of St. James.  When they returned to America, John assumed his vice presidency, but Abigail couldn’t join him and be with him for his inauguration because her mother was sick and had to take care of her in Massachusetts.

When she joined him in Philadelphia, she kept a busy schedule rising early to manage a busy household, and receiving callers for a few hours each day. However, unlike Mrs. Washington, who avoided all political discussions to avoid any conflict on her husband’s work, Abigail was involved in many of the interesting debates of the day. During this time those in politics split into two factions, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, later they would be called Jeffersonian Republicans. She knew many within each party and noted who were her husbands’ friends and foes to ensure loyalty from them. Upon meeting Alexander Hamilton, a fellow Federalist as her husband, she noted that in his eyes you could see the devil, “lasciviousness itself.” She also noted that Albert Gallatin, a Republican opponent, was “sly, artful, and insidious”. Many in the political arena didn’t like that she was outspoken about issues. They didn’t like her meddling in political matters and dubbed her Mrs. President not of the United States but of a faction… it is not right.

Once the elections in 1800 denied John Adams a second term, Abigail took care of overseeing their move from Philadelphia to Washington DC and they were going to live in the new Presidential Mansion that was built. She wrote that the building wasn’t even finished, unfurnished, and strictly uninhabitable. She soon squelched her displeasure and carried on as she should, after all, she was now the First Lady of the United States of America. Like the Washington’s she carried on the tradition at the Presidential mansion in Philadelphia, she opened the doors of the new Presidential Mansion on New Year’s Day to visitors.

When Abigail left the Presidential mansion in Washington, DC they returned to their home in Massachusetts. Her correspondence continued with friends and foes alike, even writing to Thomas Jefferson, to whom she had been estranged for a while due to political differences.

One thing she is remembered for was her serious interest in politics and the new government leaders and their treatment by the press. She hated the inaccurate reporting that was thrust upon her husband’s good name and her son’s name too. She wasn’t surprised by the lies subjected to her family in 1797. Her approach to everything can be read in her thousands of letters written before, during, and after leaving politics and her description of her life during those times. She was a very interesting lady to research and learn about. Years ago I watched a video that had actors playing Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and they were reenacting their writing their letters to each other, Abigail is also included in those letter writing sessions. If I can dig up the name and a link to where to find it, I will update this blog post with it. It would be worth your time to find it and watch it.