Abigail Adams Struggle For Women's Rights

Abigail Adams once said, “If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation.”
Abigail Adams to some is known simply for being the wife of John Adams and the mother of John Quincy Adams, however, to many others she is known for being a powerfully persuasive advocate for equal rights among women and slaves. Abigail was a loving and devoted wife to John Adams. She supported and encouraged her husband in everything he did since she married him at nineteen years old. Although there was a ten year age gap between them, they seemed to have coordinating ideas, values, and worldviews. As John went to France and

England to serve as a diplomatic minister, Abigail stayed at home taking care of their kids, house, and land as well as contributing to the community.
To keep their marriage and communication alive and functioning Abigail and John would write letters to each other. During their courtship alone there were over one thousand, one hundred letters sent and received. During courtship Abigail as well as some of her family members and workers had caught small pox.
The following picture is a letter from Abigail to John talking about Johns new political role, as well as Abigails curosity of how politics work. In the letter we see a bit of an epiphany for Abigail as she starts touching on how she feels about womens rights as well as equal rights in general.

Although not married yet, and John only at the beginning of his political career, Abigail still included her beliefs, and ideas in the letter to John influencing some of his decsicons.

During John’s service in France and England Abigail would update him about the progression of the government and political parties. She would often include her views on equalizing rights for women, and sometimes slaves.
As we see in this letter, Abigail is explaining her views and beliefs on the unequal treatment of women. In the last paragraph she says, “We have it in our power, not only to free ourselves, but to subdue our masters, and without violence, throw both you natural and legal authority at our feet.” In this sentence she effectively but, gracefully explains that women are capable of throwing the established government out the window in order to be treated the way they want and deserve. The equal education that she had received made her credible and a good advocate for all women in the

colonies.
Although the letters were Abigail’s primary source of communication and outlet of ideas, she was shamed from some of things she had written to her husband. One of the letters that she had written to John had gotten into the hands of the public and was heavily ridiculed for her opinions, statements, and accusations. She had said, “I could not believe that any gentleman would have so little delicacy or so small a sense of propriety as to have written a vague opinion and that of a lady, to be read in a public assembly as an authority. That man must have lost his sense.... It will serve as a lesson to be to be upon my guard. I cannot say that I did not utter the expression…but little did I think of having my name quoted.”
Abigail was hard headed, and strong in her beliefs, and despite possible scrutiny she was never afraid to voice her opinion and advocate for women-kind. She would attend city council meetings disguised as a man to act as her husband’s “proxy”. People would call her “Mrs. President” because of the influence she had on her husband’d political decesions.
After it was clear that her husband wasn’t taking her beliefs of the equalization of women she wrote a letter to her friend Mercy Otis Warren.

She asked him to petition with her and ask for them to put some laws in favor for women into place. Warren never answered so she decided to try and write another letter to persuade her husband to help her efforts. In the letter she wrote “whilst you are proclaiming peace and good will to men, emancipating all nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute power over wives.” However, he was still unwilling to support her but, he did passed on her concerns to Joseph Palmer. The following picture is the letter sent from Abigail to Mercy otis Warren.

Despite best her best efforts Abigail Adams wasn’t entirely successful in her efforts to revolutionize the rights of women as well as what it means to be a women, she made a lasting impact. Although powerful and persuasive women were frowned upon and shunned, she was always ready and willing to use her position as the first lady to her advantage. She brought equalization and womens rights to the surface, leaving the legacy and power to the next women who wanted to join the

effort.