Ouincy's Own Abigail Adams - First Feminist in these United States

I spent the first week of August on Ogunquit, Maine with the women members of my family - my Mom, my sister Fran and two of Fran's granddaughters Alyssa and Faith.  While I was there I chanced to discover Lynne Withey's book, Dearest Friend:  A Life of Abigail Adams.  As I read this biography of an eighteenth century wife and mother, I couldn't help compare Abigail with my own mother.  Like Mom, Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, patriot and second President of these United States, was intelligent, resourceful, and quite outspoken.  And like Mom, she was filled with contradictions.  After finishing the book I thought I needed to know more about this woman and so we traveled to Quincy to the Adams National Historical Park for a guided tour.

During the Revolutionary War Abigail was a fiery revolutionary, denouncing British tyranny in blistering rhetoric.  Yet after the war she became quite conservative, almost a reactionary, as she denouced all opposition to the new federal government.

Adams was just as contradictory in other ways too.  She was very vocal in her arguements for improved legal rights and education for woman long before they became popular causes, but she desperately believed that a women's place was in the home.

Through most of her young married life, Abigail was separated from John by distance and it is through their letters to each other that we gain a perspective as to the sacrifices that were made by our forefathers to gain independence - not just the men.  While John was off at political rallies in Boston, then being the lawyer defending the British soldiers that were involved in the Boston Massacre, and finally going to Philadelphia to frame the new Constitution, Abigail was alone raising her children, managing all the family property and investments, including buying land, planning additions to houses, hiring and firing laborers, contracting with tenants, and tending the farm.  She accomplished most of these things on her own without John's advice and in many cases without his knowledge.  When she did consult with him, she often disagreed with his judgement, and went on to do it her way.  But perhaps her greatest contribution was her political advice that she gave freely in her letters to him.

Abigail is best known for her entreaty to her husband John who was attending the the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and framing the new constitution when she wrote the following in a letter to him discussing independence: "I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.  Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands.  Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could.  If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation."  This is Abigail's most famous and often-quoted statement and has given her a reputation as an early feminist.  It is important in my eyes, however, not merely for its feminism but for hte way she linked the cause of women to the cause of the Revolution.

So you can imagine my excitement the day we were exploring Quincy to actually be able to visit the Adams National Historical Park.  I traveled with my fellow companions Terry, Gino and Papa to  "the Old House".

Here, we were instructed to go to the Carriage House to buy our tickets. 

Our guided tour would begin with a ride on a trolley to the birthplace of John Adams. 

The John Adams birthplace is the oldest presidential birthplace in the United States.  In 1735, John Adams was born in this salt box  house located only 75 feet away from the birth place of his son John Quincy Adams. 

 The Park Service does not allow one to take pictures in the inside.  I was more than a wee bit frustrated since I saw so many interesting things that would have really captured the era.  What I found so facinating in visiting all three houses was the comparison in material goods and comforts.  In three generations, the Adams family went from a rustic home with very little comforts to a "palatial farm".

After touring John Adams birthplace we walked over to a more substantial saltbox where John and Abigail started their married life and where their first son, John Quincy was born.  It is here that John launched his career in politics and law.  John maintained his law office here and it is here that he, his cousin Sam Adams and James Bowdoin wrote the Massachusetts Constitution.  This document, still in use today, greatly influenced the development of the United States Constitution.

After a thorough tour of the House with the knowledgeable Park Ranger, we boarded the trolley once more and traveled back to "The Old House".  This House has been the residence of the Adams family for four generations from 1788 to 1927.  The Old House is filled with over 78,000 artifacts.  Come take a stroll with us through the grounds and formal gardens. 

This is the Stone Library that Charles Francis Adams, John Quincy's son built to house all the family's most precious possessions - their books and their papers documenting their personal and private lives.  It is the first Presidential Library actually built for that purpose.

 As we leave this beautiful setting I take one more stroll through the gardens.....the boys are waiting patiently on the steps of "wren house", the name Abigail called her home.

 Obviously, unlike my garden at home, there are few weeds....and all the deadheads are picked off immediately.  I marvel at how well tended these gardens are.

With my stroll finished, I tell the guys there is just one more stop we need to make...Penn Hill ...  a small hill two miles from their home where Abigail and her seven year old son John Quincy witnessed the sounds and the smoke from the Battle at Bunker Hill.

  We can go home now.  I have filled my mind with images and can now reread favorite parts of Dearest Friend and visualize the environment under which an independent and strong minded eighteenth century woman lived and loved.