Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams

363 Pages·2002·2.87 MB·English

by  Lynne Withey

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The Library of Congress has cataloged The Free Press edition as follows:
Withey, Lynne
Dearest friend.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Adams, Abigail, 1744-1818. 2. Adams, John, 1735-1826. 3. Presidents
—United States—Wives—Biography. 1. Title.
E322.1.A38W56
973.4′4′0924(B) 80-70694
AACR2
eISBN-13: 978-0-7432-3312-5
ISBN-10: 0-7432-2917-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-3443-6 (Pbk) ISBN-10: 0-7432-3443-X (Pbk)
www.simonspeakers.com
For Michael
Contents

Preface
1. A Minister’s Daughter
2. John
3. Wife and Mother
4. Politics
5. War
6. Independence
7. A Woman’s Sacrifice
8. The Long Separation
9. Years of Decision
10. Europe
11. “The Ambassadress”
12. A Homesick American
13. The Vice President’s Lady
14. An Interlude at Quincy
15. Mrs. President
16. “The Federal City”
17. The Matriarch of Peacefield
18. The Curtain Falls
Epilogue
Sources for Quotations
A Note on Sources
Index
Preface

Abigail Adams was a tiny woman, little more than five feet tall, with dark hair,
piercing dark eyes, and a forceful personality that belied her size. Quiet and
reserved as a child, she nonetheless displayed a brilliant mind and fierce
determination even then. As she matured, these qualities broke through her quiet
exterior and she became voluble and outspoken, never afraid to assert her
opinions whether in the company of friends, family, or heads of state.
To the modern observer, she is maddeningly contradictory. On the one hand, she
was a fiery revolutionary, denouncing British tyranny in blistering rhetoric. She
refused to be intimidated by the specter of British attack, even as she could hear
the cannon and see the smoke of nearby battles; she raised four children,
managed a farm, and conquered her intense feelings of loneliness and depression
while her husband spent years away from her serving in the Continental
Congress and negotiating with European powers. Her husband, John, called her a
“heroine” for her courage, and indeed she was. Yet after the war she turned into
a reactionary; she denounced all opposition to the new federal government as
dangerous, blamed all political dissent on “foreign influence,” and advocated the
suppression of freedom of the press.
She was just as contradictory in other ways too. She argued for improved legal
rights and education for women long before they became popular issues; but she
always believed that a woman’s place was in the home and, as she got older,
became more and more obsessed with “delicacy” and moral purity in women.
She professed to hate politics, and yet obviously thrived in her role as a
politician’s wife. Even in her relationships with her family, she displayed
contradictory behavior. She tried to control the lives of everyone around her but
instilled in her children a spirit of independence that made them resist—though
not always successfully—her overwhelming influence. They often showed signs
of resenting her interference in their lives, but they were also deeply attached to
her. Despite her sometimes overbearing personality, she was a loving and
generous woman. Her concern for her family and friends knew no bounds, and
they, in turn, loved her unreservedly.