I always cite Abigail as a true gender feminist: she was one of the first women in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to vote because she owned her own chattel, and her historic plea to John to “remember the ladies” was the first time in American history that women’s suffrage was addressed.

And let’s not forget, she also gave birth to the sixth US President, John Quincy Adams.

My favorite part of her story is the elegy she wrote after she herself tallied the electoral votes which made her husband the 2nd president:

“The sun is dressed in all its beams
To give you glory.
You have this day to declare yourself
the head of a nation.”

Wife and mother to a president – only Barbara Bush can say the same.

Regards,
Peter H.

I’m glad you took the time to highlight the relationship between John Adams and his wife, Abigail. All too often this is overlooked in the literature. Indeed, in their personal papers figures such as Jefferson and Washington both noted her contributions. Chernov makes many references in his biography of Hamilton.

Abigail Adams was a remarkable woman. While Adams was in France, Abigail not only ran the farm in Braintree in the middle of a war, but was able to make the Adams family financially solvent. In the folkways of the times, a woman doing such a thing was rare if not almost unheard of—as a side note, if John had taken Abigail’s financial advice after the war [the decision between land or securities], they would have been a very wealthy family.

You or your readers might enjoy reading: “My Dearest Friend: The Letters of Abigail and John Adams.” It’s a wonderful compilation of their correspondence over the course of their marriage. Both were delightful writers and you get a wonderful feel of both the events that shaped early Republic as well as the deep love and respect John Adams had for his “dearest friend.”

I hope this doesn’t repeat–my brower is having issues

I’m glad you took the time to highlight the relationship between John Adams and his wife, Abigail. All too often this is overlooked in the literature. Indeed, in their personal papers figures such as Jefferson and Washington both noted her contributions. Chernov makes many references in his biography of Hamilton.

Abigail Adams was a remarkable woman. While Adams was in France, Abigail not only ran the farm in Braintree in the middle of a war, but was able to make the Adams family financially solvent. In the folkways of the times, a woman doing such a thing was rare if not almost unheard of—as a side note, if John had taken Abigail’s financial advice after the war [the decision between land or securities], they would have been a very wealthy family.

You or your readers might enjoy reading: “My Dearest Friend: The Letters of Abigail and John Adams.” It’s a wonderful compilation of their correspondence over the course of their marriage. Both were delightful writers and you get a wonderful feel of both the events that shaped early Republic as well as the deep love and respect John Adams had for his “dearest friend.”

One thing that their letters reveal is the distant, harsh, isolated life Abigail often led while John was engaged in political affairs abroad both before and after the WH… but at least in retirement, they made up for that lost time. Last summer, we visited the Old House at Peace Field in Quincy and listened to oral histories from the period retold in the John and Abigail Adams’ dooryard… it was neat.

Like ILC, I think there are others who more rightly share the “forgotten Founders” rubric… Gen Hamilton certainly, but Sam Adams, Thomas Hutchinson, James Otis, Ethan Allen, the Lees of Virginia, and hundreds of patriot leaders in the legislatures of Virginia, South Carolina, Massachusetts, New York and other states.

As historiographers tell us, in biographers Adams often gets portrayed as a shameless self-promoting opportunist or as a wise, misunderstood, arrogant and aloof patrician. Of course, each has its kernel of truth and each its deception. But where one stands on the great political debates of that time really determines where one places Adams… on a pedestal or close to the curb. Somewhat like the MSM, historians and biographers carry lots of baggage that seems to color their bias in bright pastels.

What I gained from reading about JA is that insufferable political sniping is nothing NEW to our generation and getting kicked onto the political slag heap is as easy then as it is now… and all usually due to changing political passions. And if you wait around long enough, either an apologist (if you don’t favor the revision) or an astute, gifted historian (if he’s writing about one of your guys) will resurrect you and the issues of the day for greater examination.

What I never knew about JA was his defense of the Brit troops who murdered the Boston Massacre patriots… a strange role for someone who was later to become a Founding Father.

And if you want to hear one of the most beautiful voices in Broadway history, rent 1776. Virginia Vestoff (1939-1982) played AA in the stage version, too.

Unfortunately, another great voice, Betty Buckley, did not reprise her stage performance for the movie; Blythe Danner played Martha Jefferson. Not the best singing voice, but she is one darn good actress.’

[Ditto everything you said! --Dan]

- Alexander Hamilton is probably “the forgotten founder”, having been George Washington’s brain and right-hand and top ghostwriter, the main co-author with Madison of the Constitution as well as the Federalist papers, the administrative genius who created the Federal government as an effective authority, an early Abolitionist, and probably the leading visionary of America as we now know it: i.e., as a large, slavery-free, commercial and industrial nation that spreads democracy and has New York as a major financial center, plus the occasional sex scandal.

- Adams and Jefferson both were pretty awful to Hamilton. (Although he in turn was awful to them.)