Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams US First Lady/ Mrs President/ First Lady to Live in the White House/ first feminist

Early Life of Abigail Adams

born on Nov 11, 1744 in Weymouth, Massachusetts

Father: William Smith

He was the pastor of Weymouth's North Parish Congregational Church. He taught Abigail to respect God.

Mother:Elizabeth Quincy

Abigail Adams Childhood

Her nickname as a child was "Nabby".

She did not go to school. Instead she used the library of her father's parsonage to learn to study Bible, history and literature including the works of Shakespeare, John Milton, and Alexander Pope.

Although she was born at the time when women were not educated, which was very common for girls, but she was self-educated and was very knowledgeable.

She had no career until he married John Adams.

Marriage

Abigail Smith and John Adams were third cousins and had known each other since they were children. John and Abigail met in 1759 when she was 15 years old. They were reintroduced in 1761 when John became attracted by her intelligence and wit. Abigail was 19 years old when she married, which is an early age in the 21st century.

They had six children in total- four daughters and two sons. One of the sons, John Quincy Adams, becomes the sixth president of US.

She married John Adams, the future 2nd president of United States, on October 25, 1764, in Weymouth. Smith, Abigail's father performed the ceremony.They had six children in total,

John Adams, her husband

Major Accomplishment

During the first few years of their marriage, John Adams lived mostly in Boston, Massachusetts, building his law career and becoming involved with the growing political unrest. Women at that time did not normally handle business affairs, so Abigail traded livestock, hired help, bought land, oversaw construction, and supervised the planting and harvesting. "I hope in time to have the reputation of being as good a Farmess as my partner has of being a good Statesman," she once wrote.

During the next few years, hostilities between the American colonies and Great Britain increased, forcing John Adams away from home more often. He was chosen as a delegate to the First Continental Congress.

When John Adams was away from home, Abigail was often left to carry much of the burden at home, raising their children and caring for the family farm. During that time, Abigail and John exchanged a lot of letters-more than 1100-which showed her that she was a woman of keen intelligence, resourceful, competent, self-sufficient, willful, vivacious, and opinionated—a formidable force.

When the Revolutionary War was coming closer to Boston, Abigail Adams wrote many letters describing the events of the time. She urged John Adams to protect women's rights.

When John Adams, her husband, was elected as a vice president after the long Revolutionary War, when Washington was the president. The family moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the federal government was located at the time.

When Washington retired in 1797, John Adams became the president and won the election. Abigail joined him and settled as the first lady.

Abigail Adams expressed concern about how women would be treated. She advocated and modeled an expanded role for women in public affairs during the formative days of the United States. She was an invaluable partner to John Adams as he developed his political career, culminating in the presidency of the United States.

She left a voluminous correspondence, providing information on everyday life and insight into the activities in the corridors of power during her time.

The letters reflect not only Abigail Adams' reactive advice to the political contentions and questions that John asked her, but also her own observant reporting of New England newspapers' and citizens' response to legislation and news events of the American Revolution.

One letter to John Adams from Abigail Adams

https://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090302093817AAkRN8y

John was sent to France and then England as a foreign minister. Abigail joined her husband in Europe, and then went to Washington when he was named vice president.

In 1797, John became president. His number one confidante was his wife.

After Life

After John Adams lost by Thomas Jefferson and came back home, her son Charles died due to alcoholism.

Throughout the next year, Abigail's family was plagued by an illness. Both Mary Cranch, Abigail Adams' sister, and Mary's husband, died within days of each other. Nabby, John and Abigail's daughter, had been diagnosed with cancer. Her cancer returned back, and she died in the Quincy farm.

In October of 1818, Abigail Adams suffered a stroke.

Death: Her home, Quincy, Massachusetts, 1818, October 28, 73 years old

Burial: First Unitarian Church, Quincy Massachusetts

Other Extra Fun Facts

Although Abigail Adams may be viewed as an early advocate for women's rights, she never saw herself as such.

One of her quotes: "I wish most sincerely that there was not a slave in the province. It always seemed to me to fight ourselves for what we are robbing the Negroes (African- Americans) of, whom have as good a right to freedom as we have."

She was greatly influenced by her Congregationalist upbringing.

Congregationalist means a system of church governance ("ecclesiastical polity") in which every local church congregation is independent, ecclesiastically (priestly) sovereign, or "autonomous" (self-governing)