In 1784, she joined him at his diplomatic post in Paris, and observed with interest the manners of the French. Most of all, they tell of her loneliness without her “dearest Friend.” The “one single expression,” she said, “dwelt upon my mind and played about my Heart….” They tell the story of the woman who stayed at home to struggle with wartime shortages and inflation to run the farm with a minimum of help to teach four children when formal education was interrupted. Her letters–pungent, witty, and vivid, spelled just as she spoke–detail her life in times of revolution.
Long separations kept Abigail from her husband while he served the country they loved, as delegate to the Continental Congress, envoy abroad, elected officer under the Constitution. “Alas!” she wrote in December 1773, “How many snow banks divide thee and me….” In ten years she bore three sons and two daughters she looked after family and home when he went traveling as circuit judge. The young couple lived on John’s small farm at Braintree or in Boston as his practice expanded. It was a marriage of the mind and of the heart, enduring for more than half a century, enriched by time. Reading created a bond between her and young John Adams, Harvard graduate launched on a career in law, and they were married in 1764. Like other women of the time, Abigail lacked formal education but her curiosity spurred her keen intelligence, and she read avidly the books at hand. On her mother’s side she was descended from the Quincys, a family of great prestige in the colony her father and other forebearers were Congregational ministers, leaders in a society that held its clergy in high esteem. Inheriting New England’s strongest traditions, Abigail Smith was born in 1744 at Weymouth, Massachusetts. A political influencer, she is remembered for the many letters of advice she exchanged with her husband during the Continental Congresses. She was also the mother of the sixth President, John Quincy Adams. As the wife of John Adams, Abigail Adams was the first woman to serve as Second Lady of United States and the second woman to serve as First Lady.
0 kommentar(er)
