Transcript Abigail Adams - Worth County Schools

Abigail Adams
Letter to John Adams
Abigail Adams (1744-1818)
• Wife of John Adams, the second
President of the United States.
• Mother of John Quincy Adams, the
sixth President of the United States.
• Had four sons and a daughter.
• Best known to the literary world for
the letters she wrote during the half
century crucial to U.S. nationhood
Letters
• Letters she wrote from the early 1760s
until the end of her life represent the most
complete surviving record of a woman's
experiences during the Revolutionary and
early national eras of American history.
• Reveal her efforts to fashion herself as a
model woman according to the standards
of the day: a capable and faithful wife, an
effective household manager, a devoted
mother and sister, and a discriminating
reader and writer.
Education
• She was not formally
educated herself, though she
was very well read and
literate. She made sure that
her daughter got a formal
education.
1774-1784
• Separated from her husband for
ten years while he was in the
First Continental Congress.
• Wrote many letters to him and
to other family members.
Beliefs
• Opposed to slavery in every
form.
• Supported women’s rights.
White House Years…
• When her husband was
elected President, he and
Abigail were the first couple
to live in the White House.
Death…
• Died in 1818, at the Adams
family home in Massachusetts.
• 1840 – a volume of her letters
was published.