48 Facts About Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams was a founder of the United States, and was the first second lady of the United States and second first lady of the United States, although such titles were not used at the time.

Abigail Adams's life is one of the most documented of the first ladies: she is remembered for the many letters she wrote to her husband John Abigail Adams while he stayed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the Continental Congresses.

Abigail Adams's letters serve as eyewitness accounts of the American Revolutionary War home front.

Abigail Adams was the great-granddaughter of John Norton, founding pastor of Old Ship Church in Hingham, Massachusetts, the only remaining 17th-century Puritan meetinghouse in Massachusetts.

Smith married Elizabeth Quincy in 1740, and together they had three daughters; Abigail Adams was the youngest, following her sisters Mary and Elizabeth.

Abigail Adams would come to express anti-slavery beliefs as an adult.

Later in life, Abigail Adams would consider that she was deprived an education because females were rarely given such an opportunity.

Abigail Adams became one of the most erudite women ever to serve as first lady.

Abigail Adams reported finding the Smith sisters neither "fond, nor frank, nor candid".

Abigail Adams was responsible for family and farm when her husband was on his long trips.

Letters exchanged throughout John's political obligations indicate his trust in Abigail Adams's knowledge was sincere.

Abigail Adams purchased a large brick house on Queen Street, not far from his office.

Abigail Adams took responsibility for the family's financial matters, including investments.

Abigail Adams had dreaded the thought of the long sea voyage, but in fact found the journey interesting.

In contrast to Paris, Abigail Adams disliked London, where she had few friends and was, in general, cold-shouldered by polite society.

One pleasant experience was her temporary guardianship of Thomas Jefferson's young daughter Mary, for whom Abigail Adams came to feel a deep and lifelong love.

Abigail Adams was not present at her husband's inauguration as she was tending to his dying 89-year-old mother.

When John was elected President of the United States, Abigail Adams continued a formal pattern of entertaining.

Abigail Adams took an active role in politics and policy, unlike the quiet presence of Martha Washington.

Abigail Adams was so politically active, her political opponents came to refer to her as "Mrs President".

At times Abigail Adams planted favorable stories about her husband in the press.

Abigail Adams remained a staunch supporter of her husband's political career, supporting his policies, such as passing the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Abigail Adams brought the children of her brother William Smith, her brother-in-law John Shaw, and her son Charles to live in the President's House during her husband's presidency because the children's respective fathers all struggled with alcoholism.

Charles's daughter, Suzannah, was just 3 years old in 1800 when Abigail Adams brought her to live in the President's House in Philadelphia days before Charles's death.

Abigail Adams moved into the White House in November 1800, living there for only the last four months of her husband's term.

Abigail Adams found the unfinished mansion in Washington "habitable" and the location "beautiful"; but she complained that, despite the thick woods nearby, she could find no one willing to chop and haul firewood for the First Family.

Abigail Adams used the East Room of the White House to hang up the laundry.

Abigail Adams followed her son's political career earnestly, as her letters to her contemporaries show.

In later years, she renewed correspondence with Thomas Jefferson, having reached out to him upon the death of his daughter Maria Jefferson Eppes, whom Abigail Adams had cared for and come to love when Polly was a small child in London, even though Jefferson's political opposition to her husband had hurt her deeply.

Abigail Adams raised her elder grandchildren, including George Washington Adams and a younger John Adams, while their father John Quincy Adams was minister to Russia.

Abigail Adams died in her home on October 28,1818, of typhoid fever.

Abigail Adams was buried near their son John Quincy and his wife Louisa in a crypt located in the United First Parish Church in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Abigail Adams was 73 years old, exactly two weeks shy of her 74th birthday.

Abigail Adams wrote about the troubles and concerns she had as an 18th-century woman.

Abigail Adams was an advocate of married women's property rights and more opportunities for women, particularly in the field of education.

Abigail Adams opposed the existence of slavery in the United States and saw it as a threat to American democracy.

Abigail Adams subsequently placed the boy in a local evening school, though not without objections from a neighbor.

Abigail Adams was an active member of First Parish Church in Quincy, which became Unitarian in doctrine by 1753.

Ellis argues that Abigail Adams was the more resilient and more emotionally balanced of the two, and calls her one of the most extraordinary women in American history.

One of the subpeaks of New Hampshire's Mount Abigail Adams is named in her honor.

In 2003 Abigail Adams was one of three women honored in a bronze sculpture as part of the Boston's Women Memorial on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston.

In 2022, a seven-foot tall bronze statue of Abigail Adams was unveiled in Quincy, Massachusetts, on the Hancock Abigail Adams Common.

An Abigail Adams Memorial has been proposed in Washington, DC, honoring Abigail Adams, her husband, her son, and other members of their family.

Abigail Adams is a featured figure on Judy Chicago's installation piece The Dinner Party, being represented as one of the 999 names on the Heritage Floor.

The Abigail Adams coin was released on June 19,2007, and sold out in just hours.

Abigail Adams is pictured on the back of the coin writing her most famous letter to John Adams.

In February 2009 Coin World reported that some 2007 Abigail Adams medals were struck using the reverse from the 2008 Louisa Adams medal, apparently by mistake.

Consistently, Abigail Adams has ranked among the three-most highly regarded first ladies in these surveys.