ESSENTIAL QUESTION
What political advice does Abigail Adams give her husband John in 1776?
CONTEXT
Abigail Smith Adams (1744-1818) was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, to a liberal Congregationalist minister and his wife. Although the family held up to four slaves, Abigail later developed anti-slavery views. Even though she had no formal education, she learned to read, write, and cipher and enjoyed access to her father’s large library. In 1764 she married John Adams, a young lawyer from Braintree, Massachusetts. As the political atmosphere of Boston became more unsettled in the 1770s, Abigail remained at the farm in Braintree while husband John tended to his law practice and political duties in Boston. John became the second President of the United States and Abigail’s son John Quincy became the sixth President of the United States. She died in her home in 1818 of typhoid fever.
Due to John’s active political career Abigail and John spent months apart, but wrote over 300 letters to each other. This text is taken from a letter Abigail wrote to John on March 31, 1776, just prior to the announcement of the Declaration of Independence.
TEXT* (original spellings are maintained)
Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.
That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend. Why then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity. Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your Sex. Regard us then as Beings placed by providence under your protection and in immitation of the Supreem Being make use of that power only for our happiness.
INQUIRY (Cite from the text where you found your responses)
- Abigail Adams uses strong language to describe men. When she says “Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could”, what does she mean? What keeps all men from being tyrants?
- While John Adams did not take the advice in this letter seriously, what does the fact that his wife describes her thoughts so plainly imply about their relationship?
- What does she mean by “use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity”?
- What does Abigail says that women will do if “perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies”?
- According to Abigail, how can men prevent a revolution by women?
- How does Abigail contrast “Men of Sense” and tyrants? What is the effect of this contrast?
- Would Abigail’s speech be relevant in our lives today? Why or why not?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
*Text from “Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0241. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 1, December 1761 – May 1776, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, pp. 369–371.]
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/abigail-adams
Read Closely 