Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams (1744–1818) was one of the first advocates for women’s equal education and women’s property rights in the United States. She was the wife and closest advisor of John Adams, the second president of the United States and cofounder and second president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States. 

As her husband’s prominence grew and his time away from home increased, Abigail managed the family’s farm and its business affairs while also raising their children. The correspondence between John and Abigail Adams–more than 1,100 letters beginning with their courtship in 1762 and continuing through the end of John’s political career–comprises one of the most important historical documents of their era, offering a unique insight into eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century life in America, revealing their deep engagement with social and political issues, and highlighting Abigail’s advocacy of women’s rights and her role as a confidante. 

In one notable letter to her husband in March 1776, while he was in Philadelphia, she wrote, “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.” Her letters also reveal her strong opposition to slavery and her belief in the inherent right to freedom for all people. Like other women of her generation, she had no formal education. However, she took advantage of her family’s social circle of highly educated friends and extensive library to master a range of topics.