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Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams During the Revolution with a Memoir of Mrs. Adams
HardPress Classic Books Series
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 3, 2010
80 people are currently reading
202 people want to read
About the author
John Adams
944 books130 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
John Adams was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain. During the latter part of the Revolutionary War and in the early years of the new nation, he served the U.S. government as a senior diplomat in Europe. Adams was the first person to hold the office of vice president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. He was a dedicated diarist and regularly corresponded with important contemporaries, including his wife and adviser Abigail Adams and his friend and political rival Thomas Jefferson.
A lawyer and political activist prior to the Revolution, Adams was devoted to the right to counsel and presumption of innocence. He defied anti-British sentiment and successfully defended British soldiers against murder charges arising from the Boston Massacre. Adams was a Massachusetts delegate to the Continental Congress and became a leader of the revolution. He assisted Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and was its primary advocate in Congress. As a diplomat he helped negotiate a peace treaty with Great Britain and secured vital governmental loans. Adams was the primary author of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, which influenced the United States Constitution, as did his essay Thoughts on Government.
Adams was elected to two terms as vice president under President George Washington and was elected as the United States' second president in 1796. He was the only president elected under the banner of the Federalist Party. Adams's term was dominated by the issue of the French Revolutionary Wars, and his insistence on American neutrality led to fierce criticism from both the Jeffersonian Republicans and from some in his own party, led by his rival Alexander Hamilton. Adams signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts, and built up the Army and Navy in the undeclared naval war with France. He was the first president to reside in the White House.
In his bid in 1800 for reelection to the presidency, opposition from Federalists and accusations of despotism from Jeffersonians led to Adams losing to his vice president and former friend Jefferson, and he retired to Massachusetts. He eventually resumed his friendship with Jefferson by initiating a continuing correspondence. He and Abigail generated the Adams political family, including their son John Quincy Adams, the sixth president. John Adams died on July 4, 1826 – the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Adams and his son are the only presidents of the first twelve who never owned slaves. Historians and scholars have favorably ranked his administration.
John Adams was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain. During the latter part of the Revolutionary War and in the early years of the new nation, he served the U.S. government as a senior diplomat in Europe. Adams was the first person to hold the office of vice president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. He was a dedicated diarist and regularly corresponded with important contemporaries, including his wife and adviser Abigail Adams and his friend and political rival Thomas Jefferson.
A lawyer and political activist prior to the Revolution, Adams was devoted to the right to counsel and presumption of innocence. He defied anti-British sentiment and successfully defended British soldiers against murder charges arising from the Boston Massacre. Adams was a Massachusetts delegate to the Continental Congress and became a leader of the revolution. He assisted Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and was its primary advocate in Congress. As a diplomat he helped negotiate a peace treaty with Great Britain and secured vital governmental loans. Adams was the primary author of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, which influenced the United States Constitution, as did his essay Thoughts on Government.
Adams was elected to two terms as vice president under President George Washington and was elected as the United States' second president in 1796. He was the only president elected under the banner of the Federalist Party. Adams's term was dominated by the issue of the French Revolutionary Wars, and his insistence on American neutrality led to fierce criticism from both the Jeffersonian Republicans and from some in his own party, led by his rival Alexander Hamilton. Adams signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts, and built up the Army and Navy in the undeclared naval war with France. He was the first president to reside in the White House.
In his bid in 1800 for reelection to the presidency, opposition from Federalists and accusations of despotism from Jeffersonians led to Adams losing to his vice president and former friend Jefferson, and he retired to Massachusetts. He eventually resumed his friendship with Jefferson by initiating a continuing correspondence. He and Abigail generated the Adams political family, including their son John Quincy Adams, the sixth president. John Adams died on July 4, 1826 – the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Adams and his son are the only presidents of the first twelve who never owned slaves. Historians and scholars have favorably ranked his administration.
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July 3, 201910/10
No review to come. I enjoyed this immensely as it provided a wonderful view of the daily frets and worries of two people whose lives were inextricably enmeshed within their country's revolution. Nation Building 101 -- with a bit of a quotidian tea drinking, as a backdrop.
The last letter in this volume lends a certain closure to the American Revolution, and to a seminal point in their personal lives.
“Paris, 18 February, 1783.
My dearest Friend,—The peace,[213] which sets the rest of the world at ease, increases, I think, my perplexities and anxiety. I have written to Congress a resignation, but I foresee there will not be a speedy decision upon it, and I shall be left in a state of suspense that will be intolerable. Foreseeing this, I am determined not to wait for an acceptance of my resignation, but to come home without it, provided it does not arrive in a reasonable time. Don't think, therefore of coming to Europe. If you do, we shall cross each other, and I shall arrive in America about the same time that you may arrive in Europe.
I shall certainly return home in the spring. With or without leave, resignation accepted or not, home I will come, so you have nothing to do but wait to receive your old friend
J. Adams.
[213] The preliminary articles between the three parties, Great Britain, France, and the United States, were signed at Paris on the 28th of January, 1783. Hence this may be considered as the close of the great struggle of the Revolution.”
No review to come. I enjoyed this immensely as it provided a wonderful view of the daily frets and worries of two people whose lives were inextricably enmeshed within their country's revolution. Nation Building 101 -- with a bit of a quotidian tea drinking, as a backdrop.
The last letter in this volume lends a certain closure to the American Revolution, and to a seminal point in their personal lives.
“Paris, 18 February, 1783.
My dearest Friend,—The peace,[213] which sets the rest of the world at ease, increases, I think, my perplexities and anxiety. I have written to Congress a resignation, but I foresee there will not be a speedy decision upon it, and I shall be left in a state of suspense that will be intolerable. Foreseeing this, I am determined not to wait for an acceptance of my resignation, but to come home without it, provided it does not arrive in a reasonable time. Don't think, therefore of coming to Europe. If you do, we shall cross each other, and I shall arrive in America about the same time that you may arrive in Europe.
I shall certainly return home in the spring. With or without leave, resignation accepted or not, home I will come, so you have nothing to do but wait to receive your old friend
J. Adams.
[213] The preliminary articles between the three parties, Great Britain, France, and the United States, were signed at Paris on the 28th of January, 1783. Hence this may be considered as the close of the great struggle of the Revolution.”
August 4, 2015
This is, without a doubt, one of my favorite sources of inspiration. John Adams is painted, by his own metaphorical brush, as something rare to find in a U.S. president: a person with feelings, fears, doubts, vanity, and hope. He is brought to life in this correspondence between himself and his wife, whom I now contend might be seen as the finest First Lady with whom this nation has been graced.
Her powerful, poignant words echo constantly in my mind. Vastly ahead of her time in terms of her views on female empowerment, she is also a devoted wife, mother, and patriot. Honestly, I come away with a greater respect for Abigail Adams than I hold for most figures in American history.
This collection of letters, though difficult trudging at times - due primarily to specific details of war maneuvers (which some may find fascinating) - I found that the letters held true gems in terms of quotations, words to live by, and evidence of the intimate bond between two distant lovers, trying to hold their connection strong.
I highly recommend this collection, but I would caution anyone unfamiliar with the basic timeline of the Revolutionary War to brush up before they embark on this journey.
Her powerful, poignant words echo constantly in my mind. Vastly ahead of her time in terms of her views on female empowerment, she is also a devoted wife, mother, and patriot. Honestly, I come away with a greater respect for Abigail Adams than I hold for most figures in American history.
This collection of letters, though difficult trudging at times - due primarily to specific details of war maneuvers (which some may find fascinating) - I found that the letters held true gems in terms of quotations, words to live by, and evidence of the intimate bond between two distant lovers, trying to hold their connection strong.
I highly recommend this collection, but I would caution anyone unfamiliar with the basic timeline of the Revolutionary War to brush up before they embark on this journey.
January 28, 2013
It took me a while to get through this, as I was a bit burned out on my history classes. Abigail Adams remains one of my heroines, and I have nothing but respect for her husband John, even though he amused me a bit with his protestations of vanity. I have to admit that I felt really sorry for Abigail; the loneliness and sorrow at being parted from her husband for so long came through as quite the burden to bear. It was interesting to see how the war effected the times that they lived in as well, from the descriptions of Congress, movements of the military, right down to how the war effected prices for goods. All in all, this was a very compelling look at one of America's greatest couples, made even better because it was their own views and experiences that colored it.
July 14, 2013
I would love to have given this 5-stars just because of the respect I have for both Adams'. But, I reserve 5-star rating for those books I would re-read whenever, and although this is a fascinating view into the life of some of our founding fathers, it is a little dry to re-read. Highly recommended, though. For a more entertaining read, try "John Adams" by McCullough. He obviously used these letters as some of his source material.
June 15, 2016
Reading personal letters makes history come alive. I found it thrilling to read the account of the Declaration of Independence by a man who labored to bring it about. John and Abigail Adams detail the sacrifices, the deprivations, and the emotions of war and separation in a personal, unguarded way, and the balance of the masculine and feminine perspectives makes this book particularly interesting and unique. I highly recommend it.
March 22, 2013
The star rating is for the shoddy POD quality of the book, a reproduction, which is basically a text-file dump to standard letter sized paper f what must be an early-to-mid nineteenth century edition, then bound. C'mon, people, if I wanted a .txt doc I would've found one on-line, not accidentally bought a dead tree version on Amazon.
November 17, 2020
Writing Their Own History
It is clear through many of these letters that John and Abigail Adams knew they were documenting history. They took care in many of these letters to carefully record the events occurring during the American Revolution and how they were personally affected. Anyone with an interest in this time period will find reading these letters worth their time.
It is clear through many of these letters that John and Abigail Adams knew they were documenting history. They took care in many of these letters to carefully record the events occurring during the American Revolution and how they were personally affected. Anyone with an interest in this time period will find reading these letters worth their time.
July 23, 2013
A wonderful window into a marriage during the American Colonial Era and onto experiences of the Revolutionary War.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews