Husband Of Abigail Adams example essay topic

Part One Long characterized as the wife of the second president and the mother of the sixth, Natalie Bober, in Abigail Adams witness to a Revolution, describes Abigail Adams as an accomplished woman in her own right. In this well researched biography she presents an intimate portrait of a unique individual while also reflecting the course and times of the 18th century. Bober uses information derived from Abigail's more than two thousand personal letters as a vehicle to transport her readers to the uneasy era of our nation's beginning. Bober demonstrates how Abigail mingled the important historical events of the 18th century with the normal, everyday activities of daily life. The way Abigail interspersed historically significant characters with family gossip gives an air of vibrancy and a sense of immediacy to dates, names, and events. The letters reveal Abigail's deep love for her the pulsating loneliness she experienced due to long periods of separation from her husband, John Adams, and her commitment to achieve more than the goals set for women of the era in which she lived.

Bober begins with a lengthy chronology that contrasts political and personal event, and includes a family tree and local maps. The reference notes and a bibliography indicating manuscript and secondary sources conclude the book. Excellent quality archival reproductions, all clearly labeled, appear throughout the book. The reader comes to know an intelligent, strong, and vitality individual from the stroke of the subject's own pen. Throughout the book the reader encounters a remarkable person becoming increasingly independent and informed through her own efforts. She learns to manage both her family and the family farm on her own while supporting her husband in his political endeavors, particularly his work for American Independence fro England.

Abigail's letters also reveal that she was an advocate for independence and women's rights. In one of the letters she wrote to her husband she states: "I long to hear that you have declared an independency - and by the way in the Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies, we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation". This letter, as well as many others, express Abigail Adam's sentiments about independence and the rights of women and all people.

She did not have any formal education and was poor in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. However, she did not let these defiencies prevent her from communicating with her husband in his absences, her family, and friend. Part Two The historical events of the time and the life of the Adams family are so intertwined throughout this book that it is difficult to find a 'most interesting' part. The chapter titled "If man is Lord, woman is Lord ess" portrays Abigail as an intellectual equal to her husband in the confines of their home. Her political philosophy was as wise as that of her husband. In their talk of politics, she may have been superior to him.

When their ideas conflicted, she persuaded him in his views. While she pressed John Adams on the importance of the emancipation of women, she never went beyond him. She maintained her role as a private observer and supporter of her husband. When she needed examples to get her point across, she used the queens who served as monarchs. She felt that women could be good sovereigns as the queens had been.

Although she desired to reign only in the heart of her husband, she believed that women should work as hard for a voice in their male dominated society as to preserve what had already been attained. In this chapter, as well as throughout the book, Dober shows how Abigail used her family connections and her constant supply of literature to educate herself. While very much an advocate for an expanded role for women in public affairs, she did not feel the need to call for a revolution in the roles of men and women. Rather, she hoped for a legal system where women could find total fulfillment in the ascribed roles as wives, mothers, domestic beings deferential to their fathers and husbands. Part Three Garrity states that the Revolution made little difference in the attitude of men towards women. The male attitude was so dominate that John Adams, the husband of Abigail Adams, made fun of her warnings that women would foment a revolution if they were not remembered in the formulation of the laws.

However, the Revolution forced women to run farms and conduct businesses that only their fathers and husbands had done prior to the Revolution because the men were called upon to fight. These responsibilities were added to that of caring and educating children. Women such as Abigail Adams proved that they could take care of their families as well as work farms and run businesses. This helped them to recognize their importance and the significance of their contributions for independence and to society as a whole. Women now began to realize that they had to be a factor in the equation of liberty and equality. No doubt, Abigail's letters to her husband on the issue of the education of women were a factor in the change of attitude towards their education after the Revolution.

Post revolutionary politicians realized that women needed to be educated in order to best educate the future generations. Part Four One of Dober's strengths in ABIGAbigail Adams Witness to a Revolution is her accurate and judicious account of Abigail's life. She manages to use the subject's own pen to transport the reader to the birthing era of the nation and into the subject's daily life. She drew primarily from the over two thousand letters written by Abigail Adams. She included reference notes, a bibliography indicating manuscript and secondary sources, and archival reproductions. The book is written in a lively style suitable for an adolescent audience.

However, for the purpose of this class, I was able to learn and understand what Abigail's life and that of women of her era must have been like. As is the case with most high profile individuals, by the time Dober wrote Abigail Adams Witness to a Revolution the facts about her subject were already known. Even though her book is well researched and documented, her main source of reference was Abigail's letters to her husband, family, and friends. She took accounts directly from these letters.

This limited her ability to bring to light anything that was new.