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'''Abigail Smith Adams''' ([[November 11]], [[1744]] – [[October 28]], [[1818]]) was the wife of [[John Adams]], the second [[President of the United States]], and is seen as the first [[Second Lady of the United States]] and the second [[First Lady of the United States]] though the terms were not coined until after her death. |
'''Abigail Smith Adams''' ([[November 11]], [[1744]] – [[October 28]], [[1818]]) was the wife of [[John Adams]], the second [[President of the United States]], and is seen as the first [[Second Lady of the United States]] and the second [[First Lady of the United States]] though the terms were not coined until after her death. |
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==Biography== |
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===Early life and family=== |
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Abigail was born at Weymouth, Massachusetts on [[November 11]], [[1744]] to Rev. William Smith and Elizabeth Quincy Smith. By the calendar used today, it would be [[November 22]]. On her mother's side, she was descended from the Quincys, a well-known family in the [[Massachusetts colony]], by whom she descended from King [[Edward I of England]] and King [[Edward III of England]][http://www.whosyomama.com/gabroaddrick3/4/26100.htm] |
Abigail was born in the parsonage of the [[North Parish Congregational Church]] at Weymouth, Massachusetts on [[November 11]], [[1744]] to Rev. William Smith and Elizabeth Quincy Smith. By the calendar used today, it would be [[November 22]]. On her mother's side, she was descended from the Quincys, a well-known family in the [[Massachusetts colony]], by whom she descended from King [[Edward I of England]] and King [[Edward III of England]].<ref>[http://www.whosyomama.com/gabroaddrick3/4/26100.htm]</ref><ref>[http://genealogia.netopia.pt/pessoas/pes_show.php?id=32176]</ref> Her father (1707-1783), a liberal Congregationalist, and other forebearers were [[Congregational church|Congregational]] ministers, and leaders in a society that held its clergy in high esteem. However, he did not preach about the predestination, original sin, or the full divinity of Christ, instead emphasizing the importance of reason and morality.<ref name= uua>[http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/abigailadams.html Abigail Adams</ref> |
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Although she did not receive a formal education, her mother taught her and her sisters Mary (1741-1811) and Elizabeth (known as Betsy) to read, write, and cipher; her father's,uncle's and grandfather's large libraries enabled them to study English and French literature. As an intellectually open-minded woman for her day, Abigail's ideas on women's rights and government would eventually play a major role, albeit indirectly, in the founding of the U.S.{{Fact|date=July 2007}} |
Although she did not receive a formal education, her mother taught her and her sisters Mary (1741-1811) and Elizabeth (known as Betsy) to read, write, and cipher; her father's, uncle's and grandfather's large libraries enabled them to study English and French literature.<ref name= uua/> As an intellectually open-minded woman for her day, Abigail's ideas on women's rights and government would eventually play a major role, albeit indirectly, in the founding of the U.S.{{Fact|date=July 2007}} |
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===Marriage to John Adams=== |
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Abigail Smith met [[John Adams]] in 1759, and the two were excanging love letters by 1762. They married on [[October 25]], [[1764]], just before Abigail's 20th birthday. John and Abigail Adams lived on a farm in [[Braintree, Massachusetts|Braintree]] (later renamed Quincy) before moving to [[Boston]] where his practice expanded. In ten years she gave birth to five children: |
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⚫ | [[Abigail]] (1765-1813), the future President [[John Quincy Adams]] (1767-1848), Susanna Boylston (1768-1770), Charles (1770-1800), and Thomas Boylston (1772-1832), She he looked after family and home when he went traveling as circuit judge. "Alas!" she wrote in December 1773, "How many snow banks divide thee and me...." |
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In 1784, she and her daughter Abigail, who was known in the family as 'Nabby', joined her husband and her eldest son, John Quincy at his diplomatic post in [[Paris]]. After 1785, she filled the role of wife of the first United States Minister to the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]]. They returned in 1788 to a house known as the "[[Old House (Quincy, Massachusetts)|Old House]]" in Quincy, which she set about vigorously enlarging and remodeling. It is still standing and open to the public as part of [[Adams National Historical Park]]. Nabby later died of breast cancer. |
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Long separations kept Abigail from her husband while he served the country they loved, as delegate to the Continental Congress, envoy abroad, elected officer under the Constitution. Her letters--pungent, witty, and vivid, spelled just as she spoke--detail her life in times of revolution. They 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. Most of all, they tell of her loneliness without her "dearest Friend." The "one single expression," she said, "dwelt upon my mind and played about my Heart...." |
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In 1784, she joined him at his diplomatic post in Paris, and observed with interest the manners of the French. After 1785, she filled the difficult role of wife of the first United States Minister to Great Britain, and did so with dignity and tact. They returned happily in 1788 to Massachusetts and the handsome house they had just acquired in Braintree, later called Quincy, home for the rest of their lives. |
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As wife of the first Vice President, Abigail became a good friend to Mrs. Washington and a valued help in official entertaining, drawing on her experience of courts and society abroad. After 1791, however, poor health forced her to spend as much time as possible in Quincy. Illness or trouble found her resolute; as she once declared, she would "not forget the blessings which sweeten life." |
As wife of the first Vice President, Abigail became a good friend to Mrs. Washington and a valued help in official entertaining, drawing on her experience of courts and society abroad. After 1791, however, poor health forced her to spend as much time as possible in Quincy. Illness or trouble found her resolute; as she once declared, she would "not forget the blessings which sweeten life." |
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When John Adams was elected President, she continued a formal pattern of entertaining |
When John Adams was elected [[President of the United States]], she continued a formal pattern of entertaining, becoming the first hostess of the yet-uncompleted [[White House]]. The city was wilderness, the President's House far from completion. Her private complaints to her family provide blunt accounts of both, but for her three months in Washington she duly held her dinners and receptions. She mentioned that fires had to be lit constantly to keep the cold, cavernous place warm and she describes setting up her laundry in one of the great rooms. |
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The Adamses retired to Quincy in 1801, and for 17 years enjoyed the companionship that public life had long denied them. Abigail died in 1818, and is buried beside her husband in United First Parish Church. She leaves her country a most remarkable record as patriot and First Lady, wife of one President and mother of another. |
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When John Adams was elected [[President of the United States]], she continued a formal pattern of entertaining, becoming the first hostess of the yet-uncompleted [[White House]]. Her account of the new but very incomplete Georgian mansion is quite entertaining. She mentioned that fires had to be lit constantly to keep the cold, cavernous place warm and she describes setting up her laundry in one of the great rooms. |
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The Adamses retired to Quincy in 1801 after John Adams' defeat in his bid for a second term as President of the United States. She followed her son's political career earnestly as her letters to contemporaries show. |
The Adamses retired to Quincy in 1801 after John Adams' defeat in his bid for a second term as President of the United States. She followed her son's political career earnestly as her letters to contemporaries show. |
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Abigail Adams died on [[October 28]], [[1818]] of [[typhoid fever]], several years before her son became president, and is buried beside her husband in a crypt located in the [[United First Parish Church, Quincy, Massachusetts|United First Parish Church]] (also known as the ''Church of the Presidents''). |
Abigail Adams died on [[October 28]], [[1818]] of [[typhoid fever]], several years before her son became president, and is buried beside her husband in a crypt located in the [[United First Parish Church, Quincy, Massachusetts|United First Parish Church]] (also known as the ''Church of the Presidents''). |
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Her last words were "Do not grieve, my friend, my dearest friend. I am ready to go. And John, it will not be long." |
Her last words were "Do not grieve, my friend, my dearest friend. I am ready to go. And John, it will not be long." |
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==Legacy== |
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An [[Adams Memorial]] is proposed in Washington, D.C., honoring Abigail, her husband, and other members of their family. |
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An [[Adams Memorial]] is proposed in Washington, D.C., honoring Abigail, her husband, and other members of their family. A [[Abigail Adams Cairn|cairn]] now crowns the nearby hill from which she and her son John Quincy Adams watched the [[Battle of Bunker Hill]] and the burning of Charlestown. At that time she was minding the children of [[Joseph Warren|Dr. Joseph Warren]], President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, who was killed in the battle. |
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==Political viewpoints== |
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Adams is remembered today for the many letters she wrote to her husband while he stayed in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], during the [[Continental Congress]]es. Many consider them to be invaluable eyewitness accounts of the [[Revolutionary War]] home front as well as excellent sources of political commentary. |
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John Adams frequently sought the advice of his wife on many matters, and their letters are filled with intellectual discussions on government and politics. Passages from those letters figured prominently in songs from the Broadway musical ''[[1776 (musical)|1776]]'' (and the 1972 film of it, with [[Virginia Vestoff]] as Abigail Adams). |
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===On Women's Rights=== |
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She is best known for her request that he and the Continental Congress: |
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:''...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.''<ref name= uua/> |
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To this, John answered:''...as to your extraordinary code of laws, I cannot but laugh...Depend upon it, we know better Than to repeal our masculine systems...'' |
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===On Slavery=== |
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Along with her husband, slavery was not only evil, but a threat to the American democratic experiment. A letter written by her on [[March 31]], [[1776]] expained that she doubted most of the Virginians had such the "passion for Liberty" they claimed they did, since they "depriv[ed] their fellow Creatures" of freedom.<ref name= uua/> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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==Bibilograpy== |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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*[http://www.masshist.org/adams/biographical.cfm#second Adams family biographies - Massachusetts Historical Society] |
*[http://www.masshist.org/adams/biographical.cfm#second Adams family biographies - Massachusetts Historical Society] |
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*[http://www.familytales.org/results.php?tla=aba Collection of Abigail Adams Letters] |
*[http://www.familytales.org/results.php?tla=aba Collection of Abigail Adams Letters] |
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Revision as of 21:49, 24 December 2007
Abigail Smith Adams | |
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2nd First Lady of the United States | |
In office March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801 | |
Preceded by | Martha Washington |
Succeeded by | Martha Jefferson Randolph |
1st Second Lady of the United States | |
In office may 16, 1789 – March 4, 1797 | |
Preceded by | None |
Succeeded by | Anna Thompson Gerry |
Personal details | |
Born | Weymouth, Massachusetts | November 11, 1744
Died | October 28, 1818 Quincy, Massachusetts | (aged 73)
Spouse | John Adams |
Relations | William and Elizabeth Quincy Smith |
Children | Nabby, John Quincy Adams, Susanna, Charles, Thomas and Elizabeth[stillborn] |
Occupation | First Lady of the United States, Second Lady of the United States |
Abigail Smith Adams (November 11, 1744 – October 28, 1818) was the wife of John Adams, the second President of the United States, and is seen as the first Second Lady of the United States and the second First Lady of the United States though the terms were not coined until after her death.
Biography
Early life and family
Abigail was born in the parsonage of the North Parish Congregational Church at Weymouth, Massachusetts on November 11, 1744 to Rev. William Smith and Elizabeth Quincy Smith. By the calendar used today, it would be November 22. On her mother's side, she was descended from the Quincys, a well-known family in the Massachusetts colony, by whom she descended from King Edward I of England and King Edward III of England.[1][2] Her father (1707-1783), a liberal Congregationalist, and other forebearers were Congregational ministers, and leaders in a society that held its clergy in high esteem. However, he did not preach about the predestination, original sin, or the full divinity of Christ, instead emphasizing the importance of reason and morality.[3]
Although she did not receive a formal education, her mother taught her and her sisters Mary (1741-1811) and Elizabeth (known as Betsy) to read, write, and cipher; her father's, uncle's and grandfather's large libraries enabled them to study English and French literature.[3] As an intellectually open-minded woman for her day, Abigail's ideas on women's rights and government would eventually play a major role, albeit indirectly, in the founding of the U.S.[citation needed]
Marriage to John Adams
Abigail Smith met John Adams in 1759, and the two were excanging love letters by 1762. They married on October 25, 1764, just before Abigail's 20th birthday. John and Abigail Adams lived on a farm in Braintree (later renamed Quincy) before moving to Boston where his practice expanded. In ten years she gave birth to five children: Abigail (1765-1813), the future President John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), Susanna Boylston (1768-1770), Charles (1770-1800), and Thomas Boylston (1772-1832), She he looked after family and home when he went traveling as circuit judge. "Alas!" she wrote in December 1773, "How many snow banks divide thee and me...."
In 1784, she and her daughter Abigail, who was known in the family as 'Nabby', joined her husband and her eldest son, John Quincy at his diplomatic post in Paris. After 1785, she filled the role of wife of the first United States Minister to the Kingdom of Great Britain. They returned in 1788 to a house known as the "Old House" in Quincy, which she set about vigorously enlarging and remodeling. It is still standing and open to the public as part of Adams National Historical Park. Nabby later died of breast cancer.
As wife of the first Vice President, Abigail became a good friend to Mrs. Washington and a valued help in official entertaining, drawing on her experience of courts and society abroad. After 1791, however, poor health forced her to spend as much time as possible in Quincy. Illness or trouble found her resolute; as she once declared, she would "not forget the blessings which sweeten life."
First Lady to death
When John Adams was elected President of the United States, she continued a formal pattern of entertaining, becoming the first hostess of the yet-uncompleted White House. The city was wilderness, the President's House far from completion. Her private complaints to her family provide blunt accounts of both, but for her three months in Washington she duly held her dinners and receptions. She mentioned that fires had to be lit constantly to keep the cold, cavernous place warm and she describes setting up her laundry in one of the great rooms.
The Adamses retired to Quincy in 1801 after John Adams' defeat in his bid for a second term as President of the United States. She followed her son's political career earnestly as her letters to contemporaries show.
Abigail Adams died on October 28, 1818 of typhoid fever, several years before her son became president, and is buried beside her husband in a crypt located in the United First Parish Church (also known as the Church of the Presidents).
Her last words were "Do not grieve, my friend, my dearest friend. I am ready to go. And John, it will not be long."
Legacy
An Adams Memorial is proposed in Washington, D.C., honoring Abigail, her husband, and other members of their family. A cairn now crowns the nearby hill from which she and her son John Quincy Adams watched the Battle of Bunker Hill and the burning of Charlestown. At that time she was minding the children of Dr. Joseph Warren, President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, who was killed in the battle.
First Spouse Coin
The First Spouse Program under the Presidential $1 Coin Act authorizes the United States Mint to issue 1/2 ounce $10 gold coins to honor the first spouses of the United States. Abigail Adams's coin was released on June 19, 2007, and sold out in just hours.
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Obverse
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Reverse
Political viewpoints
Adams is remembered today for the many letters she wrote to her husband while he stayed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the Continental Congresses. Many consider them to be invaluable eyewitness accounts of the Revolutionary War home front as well as excellent sources of political commentary.
John Adams frequently sought the advice of his wife on many matters, and their letters are filled with intellectual discussions on government and politics. Passages from those letters figured prominently in songs from the Broadway musical 1776 (and the 1972 film of it, with Virginia Vestoff as Abigail Adams).
On Women's Rights
She is best known for her request that he and the Continental Congress:
- ...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.[3]
To this, John answered:...as to your extraordinary code of laws, I cannot but laugh...Depend upon it, we know better Than to repeal our masculine systems...
On Slavery
Along with her husband, slavery was not only evil, but a threat to the American democratic experiment. A letter written by her on March 31, 1776 expained that she doubted most of the Virginians had such the "passion for Liberty" they claimed they did, since they "depriv[ed] their fellow Creatures" of freedom.[3]
References
Bibilograpy
- Nagel, Paul C. 1987. The Adams women: Abigail and Louisa Adams, their sisters and daughters. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195038746/>
- Bober, Natalie S. 1995. Abigail Adams: Witness to a revolution New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Divison.
External links
- First Ladies of the United States
- Second Ladies of the United States
- Women in the American Revolution
- Adams family
- American feminists
- American Unitarians
- People from Norfolk County, Massachusetts
- 1744 births
- 1818 deaths
- Massachusetts colonial people
- People of Massachusetts in the American Revolution
- People from Massachusetts
- Parents of Presidents of the United States