1 Abigail Adams’ Letter to John Adams: Analysis and Interpretation Vivek Mannava Rowan-Cabarrus Community College HIS-131-805N: American History I Dr. Teronda McNeil-Hueitt December 11, 2022 2 Abigail Adams' letter to John Adams is an important historical document that provides insight into the thoughts and experiences of one of the key figures of the American Revolution. In the letter, Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John Adams, who was serving as a delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia at the time. She provides her husband with arguments for why women should be treated better, and she advocates for greater rights and equality for women. Author Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams, a delegate in the Continental Congress, and she was a prominent figure in advocating for women’s rights in early America. Recurrently, she was against the enslavement of African Americans, and she backed the education of women (Michals, 2015). As she was an avid reader, she engaged herself in many areas that women did not traditionally interact with. At this time period in America, many women did not have access to rights compared to their masculine counterparts. As her studies led her to thoughts that many women did not typically have at this time, she realized the lack of women’s rights in her era, causing her to awaken to pursue women’s rights. Her point of view as a woman is addressed when she pleads with John Adams to “regard us then as beings placed by providence under your protection” (Adams, 1776). When she mentions “us,” she is referring to women, a group that she is a part of. As she is a woman, she is biased towards maintaining and expanding the rights of her group—this must be considered when examining her letter to John Adams since it may influence her to take certain perspectives on particular issues. Furthermore, her management of the Adams’ family farm and business may influence the stance she took in her letter. Living with her children, Abigail Adams made economic “decisions that enhanced the family’s prosperity” 3 (Michals, 2015). There, she was able to understand that it was possible for a woman to have the same rights as men, affecting her view on women’s rights, a major theme of her letter to John Adams. Place and Time While maintaining the Adams family farm and raising her four small children, Abigail Adams wrote from Braintree, Massachusetts to her husband, who was meeting with other delegates in the Second Continental Congress (Spruill, 2015). She penned the letter on March 31, 1776, which was a few months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence that took place on July 4, 1776. During this time, the colonies were fighting Britain for their independence in the American Revolution. As a result of the American Revolution, ideas of freedom, equality, and natural rights spread. Since she was the wife of a prominent figure of the American Revolution, John Adams, Abigail Adams could have been strongly influenced by these ideas. In fact, these ideas may have been the reason she incorporated themes of women’s rights into her letter to John Adams. Furthermore, the widespread discontent among women in the colonies at the time, who were often denied basic rights and a role in the political process, was exemplified in Abigail Adams’ letter. For instance, she asserts that “we are determined to foment a rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation” (Adams, 1776). In this case, her assertion that the women will rebel represents the popular discontent amongst many women at this time. In addition, her reference to women not having a voice or representation in the government conveys revolutionary ideas since it references “no taxation without representation.” Moreover, we as readers living in contemporary society may find certain portions of the letter questionable, while we would accept some other parts. For 4 example, we would be alright with Abigail Adams telling her husband that women should be treated equally; however, we would not feel the same way about her saying that men are inherently overbearing. Prior Knowledge Due to my prior knowledge of John Adams, Abigail Adams, and their time period, the letter that Abigail Adams sent to John Adams can be interpreted better. Because I know that John Adams was a politician, I can understand that Abigail Adams, in writing her letter, may have intended to influence him in order to gain political control over the passage of improved rights for women. Additionally, I have seen an early version of the women’s rights movement, as discussed in our class textbook, exemplified in this letter; in fact, Abigail Adams goes as far as mentioning a rebellion in the case that ladies do not receive proper treatment and attention in the law. Furthermore, using previously learned information, I can deduce that Abigail Adams is referring to God and using Him to support her claim that women should be treated better in her letter—this is done when she uses “providence” and “the Supreme Being” as references to God, telling John Adams that he should protect and safeguard women just like God does naturally. Moreover, this letter reinforces the argument that “taxation without representation” was memorable throughout the time period of the American Revolution as discussed in Out of Many: A History of the American People (Faragher, 2012, p. 164, par. 3). This is because Abigail Adams claims that the women will form a rebellion against laws that do not represent them, which is influenced by this famous quote that also deals with representation in the government. By referencing this famous quote with her assertion, she proves the argument that the demand for 5 representation in government was a popular theme of this time period as argued in Out of Many: A History of the American People. Audience Since Abigail Adams wrote this letter to John Adams, a delegate of the Second Continental Congress, diplomat, politician, and participant in the American Revolutionary War, she created it for him to view, which means that she wanted to influence him to take action as a representative of the nation, change his way of thinking, alter his perception of events at the time, or think differently. Though Abigail Adams was not successful in convincing her husband, John Adams, she was still able to influence him to an extent, for John Adams still “sought her opinions on political and other matters” (Michals, 2015). Since her main purpose in writing this letter was to convince her husband that women should be treated better and more equally, her point of view is heavily biased into more of what a woman would think. Additionally, she would consider more viewpoints that would appeal to John Adams since he is the person that she is writing to. For example, she appeals to John Adams, who is a male, by saying that “men of sense in all ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your sex” (Adams, 1776). By implying that sensible men treat women equally, she tells John Adams that he, too, should act sensible and treat women fairly. Moreover, Abigail Adams emphasized and remarked on the marriage of women to men in her letter, and she encouraged John Adams to increase laws giving rights to women through his workplace, the Second Continental Congress (Garbaye, 2014). Through using various different arguments in her letter like this, she takes advantage of the fact that John Adams is male to get her point across, affecting the reliability of her claims since they may have cherry-picked evidence or emotion-dependent perspectives. 6 Reason Abigail Adams likely wrote this letter to John Adams on March 31, 1776 because it was a few months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which was signed by her husband, John Adams. As the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, she wrote a few months before it so that she could have the best chance of influencing John Adams and the rest of the delegates of the Second Continental Congress. In her letter to John Adams, Abigail Adams introduces that she has found out that they “have declared an independency, and” as a result of this occasion, she wishes that they, “in the new Code of Laws which [she] supposes it will be necessary for [them] to make, would Remember the Ladies” (Adams, 1776). Here, she alludes to the creation of the Declaration of Independence, which she hopes to influence in her letter. Specifically, she wants John Adams to incorporate and mention women’s rights in the Declaration of Independence. Furthermore, she goes on to recommend to John Adams to “not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands” (Adams, 1776). In telling him to not place all of the power into the hands of men, she makes it clear that the reason she wrote this letter to him was to advocate for the presence of women’s rights in the Declaration of Independence. Overall, the inclusion of the better treatment of women in the Declaration of Independence is at issue in Abigail Adams' letter. The Main Idea In Abigail Adams’ letter to John Adams, the main point she attempts to make is that women should have more attention paid to them, be treated better, and have more rights. The central message of Abigail Adams’ letter is that John Adams and the rest of the delegates from 7 the Second Continental Congress should consider including women’s rights in the Declaration of Independence. Moreover, in the thesis of the letter, this is clearly stated: 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 desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors (Adams, 1776). Here, Abigail Adams introduces the idea of treating women better and providing them with more rights. Later on in the letter, she supports her argument by using the reasoning that giving women rights would allow men to “give up the harsh title of master for the more tender and endearing one of friend” (Adams, 1776). Throughout her letter, she uses logical reasoning to entice John Adams into thinking that everyone would have a better time if women had more rights and were treated equally. For instance, she brings up the point that “men of sense in all ages abhor those customs” or that women are “beings placed by providence under your protection” (Adams, 1776). With statements like these, she uses the strategy of logical enticement to realize her goal of influencing John Adams to think better about women’s rights. However, she was most likely unable to accomplish her goals because most men, including John Adams, did not believe in rights for women—therefore, even if John Adams was influenced by the letter, it would not have had a noticeable effect on the Declaration of Independence, meaning that Abigail Adams’ goal of advocating for women’s most likely failed. Significance Abigail Adams' letter to John Adams, as a priceless historical record that sheds light on the thoughts of one of the key figures in the American Revolution, provides significant 8 elaboration on the thoughts of women in early America; additionally, it also was one of the first instances of the advocation of women’s rights in early America, it shaped the writing of the Declaration of Independence, and it influenced John Adams, a future president of the United States. As this letter was one of the first to address women’s rights in early America, it set a precedent for women’s rights in the future, possibly even influencing future women’s rights movements. In fact, it may have influenced the women’s rights movement of the 19th century by acting as a precedent—women of the 19th century may have seen that an influential figure in the past thought the same as them, eliciting them to form a movement of their own. Furthermore, it may have shaped the writing of the Declaration of Independence as it was sent to John Adams, a delegate writing the declaration. Though he would not have suddenly started advocating for women’s rights, John Adams, after reading this letter, may still have been subtly influenced by it, affecting the writing of the declaration. Moreover, after the Revolutionary War, John Adams became the second president of the United States, meaning that he could have influenced United States legislation based off of what Abigail Adams argued for in her letter. Overall, the letter that Abigail Adams sent to her husband, John Adams, advanced the justification of women’s rights by setting a precedent, influenced the writing of the Declaration of Independence, and subtly changed John Adams’ way of thinking while he was president. Conclusion In conclusion, the letter Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, John Adams, was an influential primary source that significantly affected history and can be used by historians to study the past; it involved Abigail Adams pushing for the inclusion of women’s rights in the Declaration of Independence, which she hoped to gain influence over. 9 References Adams, A. (1776, March 31). Letter to John Adams. Retrieved from https://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/archive/doc?id=L17760331aa Faragher, J. M. (2012). Out of many: A history of the American people. Prentice Hall/Pearson. Garbaye, L. (2014). Women and politics in North America: The experience of Abigail Adams. Nuevo Mundo Mundos Nuevos. https://doi.org/10.4000/nuevomundo.66603 Michals, D. (2015). Biography: Abigail Smith Adams. National Women's History Museum. Retrieved December 10, 2022, from https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/abigail-adams Spruill, M. (2015). AAdams-StudentVersion-h5-r1. Research Triangle; National Humanities Center.
