Abigail Adams Summary

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Abigail Adams was the wife of the 1st Vice President John Adams and the mother of the 6th President John Quincy Adams. She lived from 1744 to 1818 and for most of her life lived in Braintree, Massachusetts. The author of this biography wanted to bring Abigail Adams out from under the shadow of her husband John Adams. I think that Charles W. Akers was in fact successful in defending his thesis. Abigail Adams was the daughter of Elizabeth Quincy Smith and William Smith. She lived in a comfortable house with enough room for servants,visiting relatives, and all the children. Abigail did not go to school because she was always sick and her mother taught her how to write and how to read. Richard Cranch became the Smith’s tutor when Abigail was …show more content…

He also had to go to Continental Congress meetings for long periods of time so Abigail was left with the responsibilities of the family, household, and farm. With these absences came letters that Abigail and John wrote to each other. Abigail's letters were written in epistolary style and they revealed her opinions about how women should have extensive educations, opportunities, property rights, and rights to there own opinions on politics and religion. Basically, she wanted women to have the same roles that men are accountable for. She thought that women should be educated so that they could help their husbands but also shape the minds of their children. John came back to Braintree in August of 1779 in order to help make the document that soon became the model for the federal constitution of 1787. However, in October of the same year, Congress picked John as the minister to negotiate peace with England. He took John Quincy and Charles with him this time. They lived in Paris during the time of negotiating the peace treaty and throughout that time they made many trips throughout Europe. Abigail was afraid of the sea voyage so she didn't come to paris until 1784. Once they lived in Paris for 9 months they moved to England where John became the first U.S Minister to the Court of Saint James. During Abigail's time in Europe she became more and more knowledgeable of politics,food, and

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