Jeanne E. Abrams > Quotes

“Not until 1839 was the first American law passed to ensure women’s property rights.”
― Jeanne E. Abrams, First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role

“Her famous “Remember the Ladies” letter to John during the revolution was primarily aimed at overturning the practice of coverture and safeguarding women from tyrannical or abusive husbands, but it was by no means a broad feminist appeal for women’s rights and full political equality, as some past historians suggested.”
― Jeanne E. Abrams, First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role

“Use of the word “Europe” often became a code word for everything that needed to be eradicated in the new republican undertaking—from issues about rank, status, elaborate ceremonies, excessive luxury, corruption, and ostentatious fashions and lifestyles to the perceived “excessive influence of women on public life.”1”
― Jeanne E. Abrams, First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role

“Despite the fact that the role of First Lady was not an elected position, Martha and her two successors, First Ladies Abigail Adams and Dolley Madison, would all come to symbolize the heart and character of their husbands’ administrations. Never officially authorized, nevertheless, the position of First Lady became a highly influential role in American history. These three women were responsible for essentially creating the role of First Lady without having a roadmap to follow. To do so, they often had to walk a social and political tightrope. None of the three could simply imitate the role of European queens; instead, they each had to construct a unique and distinctively American style as the partner of the young nation’s leading political figure, the president.”
― Jeanne E. Abrams, First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role

“Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, and Dolley Madison, the inaugural First Ladies of the United States of America, created a role that was uniquely American in both its style and substance. Each of them shaped the role of First Lady by placing their own imprint upon the position, but at the same time they learned from one another as they sought a path that would blend their roles as women, wives, mothers, and public figures. With no precedent to follow, Martha, Abigail, and Dolley began to construct the position of the president’s spouse, often consciously working to make it distinct from that of consorts in European courts and aligning it more closely with emerging republican ideals and standards for presidential behavior.”
― Jeanne E. Abrams, First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role

“When Martha supported the needs of Revolutionary War veterans she became the first presidential wife to take on a public cause. Abigail Adams was the first to voice her strong personal opinions on critical public issues, and Dolley Madison became an effective behind-the-scenes lobbyist.”
― Jeanne E. Abrams, First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role

“To this day, the role of First Lady has no official mandate, and while in practice it was and is ofttimes a very constraining and conservative position, it continues to hold the potential for significant power, for it reflects informal but still critical political responsibilities that affect matters of state.2 The three initial First Ladies directly or indirectly influenced one another in developing the parameters of that semi-official “office.” Few of their successors played as public and active a role as these exceptional women, who were among the most highly visible females among the early political social elite in the United States.”
― Jeanne E. Abrams, First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role

“In an age when women were not allowed active political voices as either voters or elected politicians, Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, and Dolley Madison also had to learn how to negotiate their female roles to accommodate their new public responsibilities.”
― Jeanne E. Abrams, First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role

“I am still determined to be cheerful and to be happy in whatever situation I may be, for I have also learnt from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.”76 In her position as”
― Jeanne E. Abrams, First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role

“Another common thread that ties the three women together is the family tragedies they endured. Like most early Americans, they were frequently challenged by the ravages of epidemics and diseases. Before the advent of the hallmarks of modern medicine—antibiotics, antiseptics, and reliable anesthesia—life could be abruptly shattered by contagion and death. That stark reality was, of course, commonplace for early Americans, regardless of social status, but the founders in this study appear to have suffered disproportionately. The lives of the first presidential couples were especially filled with the loss of loved ones, perhaps ultimately strengthening their characters and making them more resilient in the face of adversity. Martha Washington lost her first husband and all four of her children to illness. John and Abigail Adams were predeceased by four of their six children, and Dolley Madison’s first husband and their baby died during the notorious Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic of 1793, leaving her with just one young son, who would turn out to be her only child.93”
― Jeanne E. Abrams, First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role

“The new role for women as patriotic republican wives and mothers may have been intended to restrict women from full political participation, but there still remained room for women’s agency.”
― Jeanne E. Abrams, First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role

“John Adams, and his wife, Abigail Smith, married for love. Their union was not the result of a quest for financial gain, security, or social position; rather, it was a deep emotional and intellectual partnership that characterized their over half-a-century-long marriage.”
― Jeanne E. Abrams, First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role