Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams was and still is a hero and idle for many women in the United States. As the wife of John Adams, Abigail used her position to bring forth her own strong federalist and strong feminist views. Mrs. Adams was one of the earliest feminists and will always influence today's women.
Abigail Adams was born Abigail Smith in 1744 at Weymouth, Massachusetts. She was a descendent of the Qunicys', a very prestigious family in the colonies, on her mothers' side. On her fathers' side Abigail was a descendent of Congressional Ministers. During a time when women did not receive a formal education, her grandmother at home taught Abigail. Her eagerness to learn and to read is what created a bond between John Adams and her.
Abigail was married to John Adams in 1764. Their marriage has been described as one of the mind and the heart. The young couple moved to a small farm in Boston as Johns' law practice expanded. In the next ten years Abigail gave birth to three sons and two daughters. The main goal in her life had now become watching over the family and home without her husband.
The time apart from John was spent teaching her children, dealing with wartime shortages, inflation, and running the farm with little help and writing letters to ease her loneliness.
It was in these letters that Abigail Adams views on government and feminism were made apparent to John Adams. While John was away helping the country declare independence, Abigail wrote her most famous letter to him. On March 31, 1776 Abigail wrote:
" I long to hear that you have declared an independency- and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I would desire you would Remember the La...
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Abigail Adams left behind a legacy of strong federalist and strong feminist views. She used her position in life to try to better the lives of women everywhere. Mrs. Adams was one of the earliest feminists and will always influence every generation of American women.
Bibliography:
Bibliography
Abigail Smith Adams. The First Ladies.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/glimpse/firstladies/html/aa2.html
Abigail Adams. The Women of The Hall.
http://www.greatwomen.org/adams.htm
Abigail Adams and John Adams Letters, Abigail Adams Letter to Mercy Otis Warren (1776). The American People.
http://longman.awl.com/nash/primarysource_6_2.htm
Abigail Adams. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia.
http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/aae/first/02pw.html
Remembering The Ladies. Janelle Collett.
http://www.feminist.com/rtl4.htm
In order to regain the sense of comfort that America once had, many people, especially women, created and sought after societies of reform. They felt very inspired, considering the Second Great Awakening had just ended. In doing so, the control of the nation's future slowly returned to the citizens of the United States. In a letter to her husband, Abigail Adams asked him to remember the ladies, and "to be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors". She goes on to warn John Adams not to put unrestricted power into the hands of men (Doc B).
Adams recognized the limited role women were allowed to play in the world at that time. However, she insisted that a woman's role carried an equal amount of importance and responsibility to a man's. She believed that women deserved the opportunities and rights including education and that that would enable them to live to their fullest capacity. She believed that education was as important for women as for men. Educational courses were not taught to women, but Abigail persisted in self-education. She received little formal education; just enough to manage her duties as a housewife and mother; but was encouraged to pursue what were considered more feminine pastimes, such as sewing, music, letter writing, and hosting. She always complained of being denied the proper education necessary to bring her spelling, punctuation, and grammar up to literary standards of her day. The lack of knowledge in these areas is apparent in her letters. She even created her own words. She agreed with other women that if mothers were in charge of early education for their children, they must be educated to be able to perform this duty. Her commitment to promoting education for women was so strong that she pressed her husband to inco...
Abigail was only fifteen when they first met. Abigail Smith was born November 11, 1744 at Weymouth, Massachusetts. Her father was a minister in Weymouth. On her mother's side she was descended from the Quincys, a family of great prestige in the colony. Like most women of her time, Abigail had received little formal schooling, but she read constantly thanks to her father's library. Because of this she became one of the best informed women of her time.
On January 12, 1780, Abigail Adams, former First Lady, wrote to her son, John Quincy Adams, while he was abroad with his father and brother. Adams addressed to her son and future President to maintain his spirit to learn and grow. She expressed his purpose through her motherly tone, various religious and historical allusions, use of logos, rhetorical question with simple syntax and use of metaphors.
Abigail made her strongest appeal for women¹s rights in 1776, when John was in Philadelphia serving in Congress. As members drafted laws to guarantee the independence for which the colonist were fighting, Abigail wrote to John begging him to remember that women also needed to be given the right of independence. She sensed the struggles that were to come and understood the unfairness of making one group subject to the will of another.
Susan B. Anthony believed that women should have the same rights as men. She fought for this right in many different ways, but she is most famous for showing civil disobedience by voting illegally. Unfortunately, Anthony fought all her life for women’s rights, but her dreams were not fulfilled until 14 years after she died (“Susan” Bio). Anthony attended a women’s rights convention before she started campaigning for women’s rights (“Susan” Encyclopedia par. 2). The adage of the adage.
Abigail Adams: A Revolutionary American Woman. Abigail Adams married a man destined to be a major leader of the American Revolution and the second President of the United States. Although she married and raised men that became such significant figures during their time, she herself played an important role in the American society. The events that happened in her life, starting from childhood and ending in her adult years, led her to be a revolutionary woman. Three main reasons behind her becoming such a strong, independent woman was the fact that she married a man who had an important role in politics, growing up with no education, and raising a family basically by herself.
From a young age, Abigail was centred around her the governmental and political views of both her parents and other influential nationalist figures. Abigail believed that the ties between Great Britain and its colonies should be severed. One such example came after Britain’s rejection of the Olive Branch Petition. Abigail is quoted to have said: “Let us separate, they are unworthy to be our Brethren. Let us renounce them and instead of supplications as formerly for their prosperity and happiness, Let us beseech the almighty to blast their counsels and bring to Nought all their
...re and an American hero she devoted her life to working towards equal rights for all women. Through writing, speaking, and campaigning, Anthony and her supporters brought about change in the United States government and gave women the important voice that they had always been denied. Any study of feminism or women’s history would be incomplete without learning about her. She fought for her beliefs for 50 years and led the way for women to be granted rights as citizens of their country, Thanks to Anthony’s persistence, several years after her death, in 1920 women were given the right by the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution. I do believe she was the key figure in women getting the right to vote. “She will forever stand alone and unapproached, her fame continually increasing as evolution lifts humanity into higher appreciation of justice and liberty.”
John Adams was born on October 30th, 1735 to John Adams Sr. and Susanna Boylston Adams. He was the oldest of three and lived in Braintree, Massachusetts. His father was a farmer, deacon, and town councilman. The Adams were not very wealthy and John Adams’ father knew he could only send one son and he wanted to send his eldest. However, John Adams told his father “I do not love books and I wish you would lay aside thoughts of sending me to college.” His father in reply asked him- “What would you do child? Be a farmer?” John insisted that he wanted to be a farmer and not a scholar. His father brought him to work the fields the next day. Farming was strenuous work and was most likely rough on John’s hands and back. The night after the long day of farming, His father questioned him “Well John are you satisfied with being a farmer.” John Adams refused to admit that his father was right but John Adams Sr said “I do not like it[farming] so well, so you shall go to school.” John Adams and his father found a compromise- John would go to a tutor that challenged his students instead of the town teacher that was unbearably easy. Adams excelled under the tutors teaching and was accepted to Harvard in 1751.
Women had a role in the forming of our country that many historians overlook. In the years leading to the revolution and after women were political activists. During the war, women took care of the home front. Some poor women followed the army and assisted to the troops. They acted as cooks, laundresses and nurses. There were even soldiers and spies that were women. After the revolution, women advocated for higher education. In the early 1800’s women aided in the increase of factories, and the changing of American society. Women in America were an important and active part of achieving independence and the framing of American life over the years.
One of the most important would be Susan B. Anthony. Anthony was born in 1820 and later died in 1906. In 1848, she was teaching in a school where she ended up finding out that men made $8.50 more than women did. After that her family and her attended a Women’s Rights Convention. Later, She went around the country trying to get people to join them fighting for women’s rights. She gave speeches and had petitioned for the rights of women.
John Adams was born on October 30, 1725 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony on the family farm. He was the older of two younger brothers, Peter and Elihu. John was named after his father John Adams Sr. His father was said to be the town's tax collector, selectman, constable and lieutenant of the militia. John Adams Sr. was the younger Adams’ role model. John’s parents gave him a lot of freedom. It was said that he doing activities outdoors and cared little for school. It is said that John’s stubbornness started at the age of ten when his parents were afraid that he was wasting his exceptional intellect. His father asked him what he was to do with his life and John said that he wanted to be a farmer. The next day his father took him out to the fields and worked him as hard as he could, hoping to teach him a lesson, but that night Adams sr. asked him if he was satisfied being a farmer and little John replied, “I like it very well sir.” Both of his parents were very surprised with his reply.
Abigail Adams, a woman very well known today originally met her husband John Adams when she was 15 years old and later on became the first lady during his presidency. When she turned 11 she met with a college professor and started her education. Abigail was born on November 22, 1744 and died on October 28, 1818 (The World of Abigail Adams). Throughout her life she had many long lasting accomplishments and was a leader in her household and for women. She helped make the Americas what they are today and helped give rights to woman. Abigail Adams was an important figure because of her relation to John Adams, her religious views, her accomplishments, and how they had long lasting effects in the world and on the United States today.
... Her influence combined with other women fighting and the spirit of rebellion already set in men spiked women's interests in their rights and made them want to struggle for their privileges. Before the American Revolution, women did not realize just how unfairly men were treating them until they experienced working, managing a household, and life without their husbands. It made them aware of their place in society and many wondered just why they were inferior to men at that time. That American Revolution was what led up to the women's rights movement of 1848 and without it, who knows when women would have ever revolted against this unjust behavior and obtained the right to vote in 1920.