A group of American leaders helped create the United States. They’re called the “Founding Fathers.” However, women helped form the country as well. Abigail Adams was the wife of the second U.S. president, John Adams. She was also a founder of the new nation. Some call her a “Founding Mother.”
Abigail Adams was born on November 22, 1744, in Weymouth, Massachusetts. She married John Adams in 1764. Massachusetts was a British then. Adams believed the colonies should be . And she supported the Revolutionary War. She even melted metal to make bullets.
As the Founding Fathers formed a new nation, Abigail Adams helped guide the way. She did that by writing letters. She sent hundreds to her husband, John. In one letter she said she did not want slavery. Enslaved people “have as good a right to freedom as we have,” she wrote. A letter from March 31, 1776, shared advice. She said the young country should support women.
“Remember the ladies,” wrote Abigail Adams. “All men would be if they could,” she explained.
George Washington became the first U.S. president in 1789. John Adams was vice president. Adams then became president in 1797. That made Abigail Adams the second “first lady.”
Women in the United States could not vote until 1920. But Abigail Adams made her opinions heard. She was an advisor to President Adams. She edited his speeches. John Adams described her as “my best, dearest, worthiest, wisest friend.”
Many people did not like that Abigail Adams spoke out. Still, Adams didn’t stop speaking her mind. She even attended meetings at the U.S. House of Representatives.
President Adams lost his next election. He stepped down in 1801. Abigail and John Adams then returned to Quincy. Abigail died in 1818. Yet she continued to have an impact on the country. In 1825, her son John Quincy Adams become the 6th president of the United States.
Updated March 6, 2024, 5:01 P.M. (ET)
By Russell Kahn (Russ)
