FLOTUS: First Ladies of the United States

Abigail Smith Adams

Abigail Adams (née Smith;November 22, [O.S. November 11] 1744 – October 28, 1818) was thewife and closest advisor of John Adams, as well as the mother of JohnQuincy Adams. She was a Founder of the United States, and was thefirst second lady of the United States and second first lady of theUnited States, although such titles were not used at the time. Sheand Barbara Bush are the only two women to have been married to oneU.S. president and the mother of another.

Adams's life is one of the mostdocumented of the first ladies: she is remembered for the manyletters she wrote to her husband while he stayed in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, during the Continental Congresses. John frequentlysought the advice of Abigail on many matters, and their letters arefilled with intellectual discussions on government and politics. Herletters also serve as eyewitness accounts of the AmericanRevolutionary War home front.

Surveys of historians conductedperiodically by the Siena College Research Institute since 1982 haveconsistently found Adams to rank among the three most highly regardedfirst ladies by the assessments of historians.

Early life and family

Abigail Adams was born on November 22,1744, at the North Parish Congregational Church in Weymouth,Massachusetts, to William Smith (1707–1783) and Elizabeth (néeQuincy) Smith. On her mother's side, she was descended from theQuincy family, a well-known political family in the Massachusettscolony. Through her mother she was a cousin of Dorothy Quincy, whowas married to John Hancock. Adams was also the great-granddaughterof John Norton, founding pastor of Old Ship Church in Hingham,Massachusetts, the only remaining 17th-century Puritan meetinghousein Massachusetts. Smith married Elizabeth Quincy in 1740, andtogether they had three daughters: Mary born in 1741, Abigail born in1744 and Elizabeth born on November 22, 1744. As with several of herancestors, Adams's father was a liberal Congregational minister: aleader in a Yankee society that held its clergy in high esteem. Smithdid not focus his preaching on predestination or original sin;instead he emphasized the importance of reason and morality. In July1775 his wife Elizabeth, with whom he had been married for 35 years,died of smallpox. In 1784, at age 77, Smith died.

The Smith family were slaveholders andare known to have enslaved at least four people. An enslaved womannamed Phoebe took a care-taking role to Abigail and other children;later on she would work as a paid servant for Abigail after shebecame free. Abigail would come to express anti-slavery beliefs as anadult.

Abigail did not receive formalschooling; she was frequently sick as a child, something which mayhave been a factor preventing her from receiving an education. Later in life, Adams would also consider that she was deprived aneducation because females were rarely given such an opportunity.Although she did not receive a formal education, her mother taughther and her sisters Mary (1739–1811) and Elizabeth (1742–1816,known as Betsy) to read, write and cipher; her father's, uncle's andgrandfather's large libraries enabled the sisters to study Englishand French literature. Her grandmother, Elizabeth Quincy, alsocontributed to Adams's education. As she grew up, Adams read withfriends in an effort to further her learning.  She became one ofthe most erudite women ever to serve as first lady.

Marriage and children

Abigail Smith first met John Adams whenshe was 15 years old in 1759. John accompanied his friend RichardCranch to the Smith household. Cranch was engaged to Abigail's oldersister, Mary Smith, and they would be the parents of federal judgeWilliam Cranch. Adams reported finding the Smith sisters neither"fond, nor frank, nor candid".