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Library of America #275
Letters
“You know my mind is much occupied with the affairs of our Country,” Abigail Adams wrote to her husband in 1793. “If as a Female I may be calld an Idle, I never can be an uninterested Spectator. . . .” Through her brilliant and insightful correspondence Adams fully engaged with the political, social, and intellectual currents of her age, and her letters offer a unique vantage on historical events in which her family played so prominent a role. They also bring vividly to life the everyday experience of American women in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The Library of America presents 430 of these remarkable letters—including more than a hundred published for the first time—in an edition of unparalleled scope selected and annotated by acclaimed Adams biographer Edith Gelles.
From virtually the moment she married the ambitious young lawyer John Adams in 1764, Abigail Smith Adams (1744–1818) was more or less on her own. As he rode the colonial court circuits, and later as he was swept up in the emerging imperial crisis, she was left with the primary responsibility for raising and educating the couple’s children, managing their farm and investments, and caring for an extended web of family and friends. Her frank and keenly observant letters to her “Dearest Friend” John and others in the 1760s and 1770s, including her famous call for Adams and his fellow delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia to “Remember the Ladies,” reveal her astute political sense and offer an unrivaled portrait of the American Revolution on the home front. In 1784, Adams joined her husband in Europe, opening a grand new field for her talents as social commentator and political adviser.
Upon her return to America four years later, Adams became the first vice president’s wife and then the second First Lady of the United States, placing her at the very heart of the founding of the new nation. Even after her husband’s retirement, she continued to comment on the presidential administrations of Jefferson and Madison and on the political career of her son, John Quincy Adams. Throughout, she was an abiding advocate for education and women’s rights.
Unlike previous collections of Adams’s letters, this edition represents the full range of her correspondence, including letters to Thomas Jefferson, Mercy Otis Warren, James and Dolley Madison, and Martha Washington, among many others. Erudite and witty, a uniquely talented commentator on political developments and social conventions, Adams is, in Edith Gelles’s words, a homegrown Tocqueville, “a writer whose observations and insights shed light on America and Americans of her time.”
From virtually the moment she married the ambitious young lawyer John Adams in 1764, Abigail Smith Adams (1744–1818) was more or less on her own. As he rode the colonial court circuits, and later as he was swept up in the emerging imperial crisis, she was left with the primary responsibility for raising and educating the couple’s children, managing their farm and investments, and caring for an extended web of family and friends. Her frank and keenly observant letters to her “Dearest Friend” John and others in the 1760s and 1770s, including her famous call for Adams and his fellow delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia to “Remember the Ladies,” reveal her astute political sense and offer an unrivaled portrait of the American Revolution on the home front. In 1784, Adams joined her husband in Europe, opening a grand new field for her talents as social commentator and political adviser.
Upon her return to America four years later, Adams became the first vice president’s wife and then the second First Lady of the United States, placing her at the very heart of the founding of the new nation. Even after her husband’s retirement, she continued to comment on the presidential administrations of Jefferson and Madison and on the political career of her son, John Quincy Adams. Throughout, she was an abiding advocate for education and women’s rights.
Unlike previous collections of Adams’s letters, this edition represents the full range of her correspondence, including letters to Thomas Jefferson, Mercy Otis Warren, James and Dolley Madison, and Martha Washington, among many others. Erudite and witty, a uniquely talented commentator on political developments and social conventions, Adams is, in Edith Gelles’s words, a homegrown Tocqueville, “a writer whose observations and insights shed light on America and Americans of her time.”
1180 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2016
17 people are currently reading
172 people want to read
About the author
Abigail Adams
77 books67 followersAbigail Adams was the wife and closest advisor of John Adams, the second president of the United States, and the mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States. She was a founder of the United States, and was both the first second lady and second first lady of the United States, although such titles were not used at the time. She and Barbara Bush are the only two women in American history who were both married to a U.S. president and the mother of a U.S. president.
Adams's life is one of the most documented of the first ladies; many of the letters she wrote to her husband John Adams while he was in Philadelphia as a delegate in the Continental Congress prior and during the American Revolution document the closeness and versatility of their relationship. John Adams frequently sought the advice of Abigail on many matters, and their letters are filled with intellectual discussions on government and politics. Her letters also serve as eyewitness accounts of the American Revolutionary War home front.
Surveys of historians conducted periodically by the Siena College Research Institute since 1982 have consistently found Adams to rank as one of the three most highly regarded first ladies by historians.
Adams's life is one of the most documented of the first ladies; many of the letters she wrote to her husband John Adams while he was in Philadelphia as a delegate in the Continental Congress prior and during the American Revolution document the closeness and versatility of their relationship. John Adams frequently sought the advice of Abigail on many matters, and their letters are filled with intellectual discussions on government and politics. Her letters also serve as eyewitness accounts of the American Revolutionary War home front.
Surveys of historians conducted periodically by the Siena College Research Institute since 1982 have consistently found Adams to rank as one of the three most highly regarded first ladies by historians.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 18, 2024
Abigail Adams In The Library Of America
The Library of America has done readers a great service by publishing many volumes of source material on early American history. Much of the material had only been accessible to specialists, but it is now available to those willing to make the effort to read. The LOA has published three volumes of the writings of John Adams edited by the renowned scholar Gordon Wood. At about the time it published the third volume, the LOA published this large volume devoted to the letters of Adams' wife, Abigail Adams. Edith Gelles, Senior Scholar at Stanford's Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research and the author of two biographies of Abigail Adams, edited the volume. It is an outstanding accomplishment and a welcome addition to the LOA.
Abigail Adams (1744 -- 1818) was the daughter of a New England minister, William Smith and his wife Elizabeth Quincy Smith. She received no formal education but was what people today might call home schooled. In 1764, she married John Adams (1735 -- 1826), and the union lasted until her death 54 years later. John and Abigail Adams were active participants in and observers of the events of the Revolutionary Era and beyond with John Adams serving as the second president of the United States. Abigail Adams became an inveterate letter writer. Gelles writes that over 2,300 of Abigail's letters have been preserved, with 430 selected for inclusion in this LOA volume, with about 100 of these published for the first time. The volume also includes Abigail Adams' will and selections from her diary on returning to America from Europe in 1788.
For much of their married life, Abigail and John were separated as John left home to perform official duties for the new nation. Many of the letters in this book are written to John during the course of the long, difficult separations. There are many letters to other family members, siblings, children, uncles, aunts, and others; and it is sometimes difficult to sort them out. Various family trees are offered at the outset of the book to help the reader. Adams also wrote to many other friends and famous people, such as Thomas Jefferson, Dolley Madison, and Mercy Otis Warren. This LOA volume includes a detailed List of Correspondents with short biographies that is useful in giving context to the letters.
The letters cover a breadth and depth of subjects. They cover family matters in great detail and they also cover political events of the day. They cover the break with Britain, the Revolutionary War, John Adams long period of diplomatic service in Europe, his eight-year vice-presidency, single term presidency, and more. Abigail Adams is both an astute observer and a participant. She was also a highly enterprising woman. During the years of John Adams' absences, she received difficult to find merchandise from Europe which she sold to maintain the family and the family property. She was a savvy woman of business.The letters offer a great deal of information about daily life in the period, as Abigail wrote and observed in detail. In particular, the letters offer a picture of the epidemics, including smallpox and yellow fever, which ravaged America and of the primitive state of medicine. (Abigail's daughter, Abigail 2, underwent a mastectomy without anesthetic and latter succumbed to cancer in her remaining breast.) Abigail Adams also was a great reader, and this volume is replete with allusions to literature from the Bible, the Greeks and Romans, Shakespeare, and contemporary authors. The letters also include discussions of deeply held religious faith and patriotism. The letters often are lengthy and difficult to read. Apparently, Abigail Adams gave little thought to the eventual publication of the letters until near the end of her life.
The book is divided into seven sections, beginning with a small section on her courtship and marriage to John (1763 -- 1773). The following much longer sections cover the Revolutionary Era (1773 -- 1777); the years John spent abroad, with Abigail joining him in the latter years (1778 -- 1788); the eight years of Adams' vice-presidency (1788 -- 1796); the four years as First Lady (1797 -- 1801); and the years of retirement in Quincy, Massachusetts ((1801 -- 1818). In addition to the biographies of correspondents, this volume includes an extended chronology of the years 1744 -- 1818, covering both personal and political events during this formative era. The volume also includes unusually thorough notes on the letters. These three carefully prepared sections (notes, biographies, chronology) are indispensable aids to understanding what is still a formidably difficult volume of writing. There are over 950 pages of letters and nearly 200 pages of supporting material.
Abigail Adams' best-known letter appears early in this volume. In March-April, 1776, Abigail wrote to John to "remember the ladies" and to improve their lot during the Continental Congress (p. 90) The themes of women's education and women's rights appear frequently in this volume. Her views are advanced for a woman of the time and are also carefully nuanced. It would be unduly narrowing to read these letters with an emphasis on Abigail Adams' views on women's issues because of the breadth of her personal, political, religious, and intellectual interests as shown in the letters.
I want to suggest some of Adams' key concerns by quoting from two letters written during her retirement years reflecting on her long, active life. In 1811, Abigail wrote to her granddaughter, Abigail Louisa Adams, in a letter that stresses women's independence and patriotism. She wrote:
"I was amused with your politiks, you must tell the young Ladies that I have heard it observed that a Ladies politicks Should be always those of their Husbands now if they fix theirs, they must be Sure they are Right, and chuse accordingly or they may chance to Spar, and that would be very unpleasant. I fix it as a principle that every Lady Should Love her own Country in preference to any other, and that whatever tends to promote its prosperity its happiness and welfare Should be regarded by her, next to her near Relatives -- for in the Fredom and Independence of her country, is contained her own happiness, and that of her connections. I ask them to Name a Country equally Blest with our own, not withstanding all the Clamours against our Rulers, and all the injuries we have Sustaind from forign powers? neither war, Pestilence, or Safety, our Country produces us every necessary, and many of the Luxuries of Life, no hard task Master gripes them from us, no Children of want Starve for Bread. there is one thing we want, we want gratefull Hearts and deserve not the abundant mercies we receive". (p.828)
In a letter to Richard Rush dated February 26, 1816, who had succeeded John Quincy Adams as minister to Russia, Abigail Adams reflected on her personal life and her long separations from her husband. She wrote:
"In a time of war, or in any great calamity which may threaten a country, I consider it the Duty of a good citizen, to Sacrifice property and even Life, to save it upon this principle I have always acted. When called upon for a Seperation from those most Dear to me, which wrung my heart with anguish and placed me, a Solitary Being in the world -- for Sixteen years of my Life, and that at a period, when it may be supposed, Life is best enjoyed -- I was deprived of the Support, the Comfort, and Society of Him whom I most Loved, and esteemed, in the World." (p. 920)
This book is long and difficult to read. It will be rewarding to readers with a strong interest in the United States and its history and sense of itself -- particularly involving Revolutionary America -- and in Abigail Adams. The Library of America and Edith Gelles are to be commended for adding this book to a series that documents American thought, history, and writing. The LOA kindly sent me a review copy of this volume.
Robin Friedman
The Library of America has done readers a great service by publishing many volumes of source material on early American history. Much of the material had only been accessible to specialists, but it is now available to those willing to make the effort to read. The LOA has published three volumes of the writings of John Adams edited by the renowned scholar Gordon Wood. At about the time it published the third volume, the LOA published this large volume devoted to the letters of Adams' wife, Abigail Adams. Edith Gelles, Senior Scholar at Stanford's Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research and the author of two biographies of Abigail Adams, edited the volume. It is an outstanding accomplishment and a welcome addition to the LOA.
Abigail Adams (1744 -- 1818) was the daughter of a New England minister, William Smith and his wife Elizabeth Quincy Smith. She received no formal education but was what people today might call home schooled. In 1764, she married John Adams (1735 -- 1826), and the union lasted until her death 54 years later. John and Abigail Adams were active participants in and observers of the events of the Revolutionary Era and beyond with John Adams serving as the second president of the United States. Abigail Adams became an inveterate letter writer. Gelles writes that over 2,300 of Abigail's letters have been preserved, with 430 selected for inclusion in this LOA volume, with about 100 of these published for the first time. The volume also includes Abigail Adams' will and selections from her diary on returning to America from Europe in 1788.
For much of their married life, Abigail and John were separated as John left home to perform official duties for the new nation. Many of the letters in this book are written to John during the course of the long, difficult separations. There are many letters to other family members, siblings, children, uncles, aunts, and others; and it is sometimes difficult to sort them out. Various family trees are offered at the outset of the book to help the reader. Adams also wrote to many other friends and famous people, such as Thomas Jefferson, Dolley Madison, and Mercy Otis Warren. This LOA volume includes a detailed List of Correspondents with short biographies that is useful in giving context to the letters.
The letters cover a breadth and depth of subjects. They cover family matters in great detail and they also cover political events of the day. They cover the break with Britain, the Revolutionary War, John Adams long period of diplomatic service in Europe, his eight-year vice-presidency, single term presidency, and more. Abigail Adams is both an astute observer and a participant. She was also a highly enterprising woman. During the years of John Adams' absences, she received difficult to find merchandise from Europe which she sold to maintain the family and the family property. She was a savvy woman of business.The letters offer a great deal of information about daily life in the period, as Abigail wrote and observed in detail. In particular, the letters offer a picture of the epidemics, including smallpox and yellow fever, which ravaged America and of the primitive state of medicine. (Abigail's daughter, Abigail 2, underwent a mastectomy without anesthetic and latter succumbed to cancer in her remaining breast.) Abigail Adams also was a great reader, and this volume is replete with allusions to literature from the Bible, the Greeks and Romans, Shakespeare, and contemporary authors. The letters also include discussions of deeply held religious faith and patriotism. The letters often are lengthy and difficult to read. Apparently, Abigail Adams gave little thought to the eventual publication of the letters until near the end of her life.
The book is divided into seven sections, beginning with a small section on her courtship and marriage to John (1763 -- 1773). The following much longer sections cover the Revolutionary Era (1773 -- 1777); the years John spent abroad, with Abigail joining him in the latter years (1778 -- 1788); the eight years of Adams' vice-presidency (1788 -- 1796); the four years as First Lady (1797 -- 1801); and the years of retirement in Quincy, Massachusetts ((1801 -- 1818). In addition to the biographies of correspondents, this volume includes an extended chronology of the years 1744 -- 1818, covering both personal and political events during this formative era. The volume also includes unusually thorough notes on the letters. These three carefully prepared sections (notes, biographies, chronology) are indispensable aids to understanding what is still a formidably difficult volume of writing. There are over 950 pages of letters and nearly 200 pages of supporting material.
Abigail Adams' best-known letter appears early in this volume. In March-April, 1776, Abigail wrote to John to "remember the ladies" and to improve their lot during the Continental Congress (p. 90) The themes of women's education and women's rights appear frequently in this volume. Her views are advanced for a woman of the time and are also carefully nuanced. It would be unduly narrowing to read these letters with an emphasis on Abigail Adams' views on women's issues because of the breadth of her personal, political, religious, and intellectual interests as shown in the letters.
I want to suggest some of Adams' key concerns by quoting from two letters written during her retirement years reflecting on her long, active life. In 1811, Abigail wrote to her granddaughter, Abigail Louisa Adams, in a letter that stresses women's independence and patriotism. She wrote:
"I was amused with your politiks, you must tell the young Ladies that I have heard it observed that a Ladies politicks Should be always those of their Husbands now if they fix theirs, they must be Sure they are Right, and chuse accordingly or they may chance to Spar, and that would be very unpleasant. I fix it as a principle that every Lady Should Love her own Country in preference to any other, and that whatever tends to promote its prosperity its happiness and welfare Should be regarded by her, next to her near Relatives -- for in the Fredom and Independence of her country, is contained her own happiness, and that of her connections. I ask them to Name a Country equally Blest with our own, not withstanding all the Clamours against our Rulers, and all the injuries we have Sustaind from forign powers? neither war, Pestilence, or Safety, our Country produces us every necessary, and many of the Luxuries of Life, no hard task Master gripes them from us, no Children of want Starve for Bread. there is one thing we want, we want gratefull Hearts and deserve not the abundant mercies we receive". (p.828)
In a letter to Richard Rush dated February 26, 1816, who had succeeded John Quincy Adams as minister to Russia, Abigail Adams reflected on her personal life and her long separations from her husband. She wrote:
"In a time of war, or in any great calamity which may threaten a country, I consider it the Duty of a good citizen, to Sacrifice property and even Life, to save it upon this principle I have always acted. When called upon for a Seperation from those most Dear to me, which wrung my heart with anguish and placed me, a Solitary Being in the world -- for Sixteen years of my Life, and that at a period, when it may be supposed, Life is best enjoyed -- I was deprived of the Support, the Comfort, and Society of Him whom I most Loved, and esteemed, in the World." (p. 920)
This book is long and difficult to read. It will be rewarding to readers with a strong interest in the United States and its history and sense of itself -- particularly involving Revolutionary America -- and in Abigail Adams. The Library of America and Edith Gelles are to be commended for adding this book to a series that documents American thought, history, and writing. The LOA kindly sent me a review copy of this volume.
Robin Friedman
October 6, 2025
A thorough true life look at the times of early America through the written letters of Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams. She also includes her experiences in France and England while accompanying John on his diplomatic missions. You will come to know what life was like in America, the new nation. You can go with Abigail as she weathers years and years of life without John, her sorrows over losing her oldest son to alcoholism, and her amazing tenacity of giving honest love and guidance, in many civil ways, to all her family, and to her in-laws' family members. Her leaders are a priceless testament to the American spirit. I listened to this as a talking book because it is a very, very long book.
January 18, 2017
Warts and all, as she mailed them uncorrected, here is the wisdom of our first truly enlightened First Lady, who might have made a better president than her spouse. Due to circumstances beyond her control, she wisely for the time kept most political references toned down, as mail of the time was subject to loss at sea and land, seizure by unfriendly governments and independent agents, and also to unauthorized publication. Even so, you get a feel for the era, in how people lived, acquired goods and services, and the diction of the era, very far removed from how one currently corresponds.
An essential book, even a selection from this volume should be required reading at some point in schools.
An essential book, even a selection from this volume should be required reading at some point in schools.
May 15, 2016
An interesting look into the life and times of one of our nation's independent founding 'foremothers', Abigail Smith Adams, through her dedicated letter writing to family, friends and, both American and international political stewards. "You know my mind is much occupied with the affairs of our Country. If as a Female I may be called an Idle, I never can be an uninterested Spectator..."
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May 13, 2016973.44092 A2111 2016
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews