author
Abigail Adams
1744–1818
Remembered for urging the founders to "remember the ladies," she brought sharp intelligence and moral clarity to the early American republic. Her letters make her feel immediate and human: a partner in politics, a keen observer of war and government, and one of the strongest voices of her era.
1 Audiobook
Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams During the Revolution with a Memoir of Mrs. Adams
by John Adams, Abigail Adams
About the author
Born Abigail Smith in Weymouth, Massachusetts, in 1744, she grew up in a family that valued learning, even though she did not receive much formal schooling. She married John Adams in 1764, and their long, lively correspondence became one of the richest records of everyday life and political thought in Revolutionary America.
During the years of revolution and nation-building, she managed home and family through war, shortages, and long separations while also advising her husband on public affairs. She is especially known for pressing him to "remember the ladies," a line that has made her a lasting symbol of early advocacy for women's rights; sources also consistently describe her as outspoken in support of education for women and in opposition to slavery.
Abigail Adams later became the first woman to serve as Second Lady of the United States and then the nation's second First Lady. She died in 1818, but her reputation rests not only on her place in a presidential family, but on the vivid, thoughtful letters that reveal her judgment, wit, and political courage.