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John Adams and the former Abigail Smith exchanged over 1,100 letters, commencing during the time of their courtship in 1762 and continuing throughout John's political career, until 1801 when his term as President ended. This body of correspondence is eloquent, interesting, informative, witty and warm. It includes John's descriptions of the Continental Congress, his impressions of Europe while he served in various diplomatic roles, and Abigail's updates about their family, farm, and news of the Revolution's impact on the Boston area.
The first exchange of letters between John Adams and Abigail Smith occurred during their courtship, in a series of sixteen letters exchanged between April 12 and May 9, 1762 while John was in Boston being inoculated against smallpox. John and Abigail got married on October 25, 1764 and during the early 1770s, John wrote to Abigail when his legal work for the circuit court took him away from home. John and Abigail Adams exchanged numerous letters while John served in the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1777. Then the following year (1778) John Adams's first diplomatic assignment in Europe led to a series of transatlantic exchanges of letters between him and his wife until he returned to the United State in the middle of 1779. It was challenging to send mail across the ocean, especially during wartime. When John returned to Europe, they resumed their correspondence during late 1779 until the summer of 1784, when Abigail arrived in London. While they were both in Europe they exchanged a few letters at various times when they were apart between December 1786 and January 1789.
During John Adams's vice presidency and presidency they wrote many letters to each other. John was in Washington while Abigail was at home in Massachusetts. In one famous letter, dated November 2, 1800, from the newly-completed "President's House" (later called the White House, Adams famously told his wife, "May none but honest and wise Men rule under this roof."
In one of his letters, Adams confided to his wife about the lack of civility that insinuated itself into the debates of the new Congress. Adams wrote to Abigail that he had the "fear that in every assembly, members will obtain influence by noise, not sense". His letter goes on to warn that the dangers of not acting with respect or decency could cause government to eventually come apart. Adams told Abigail that he believed that a deeper respect was required from every rank in government, and not just its leaders, to be more fully effective.
As for Abigail, she proved herself to be a forward thinker, someone ahead of her time. For example, she wrote to her husband about the troubles and concerns she had as an eighteenth-century woman. She was an advocate of married women's property rights, and hoped for more opportunities for women, particularly in the field of education. She wrote that, in her opinion, women should not submit to laws not made in their interest, nor should they be content with the simple role of being companions to their husbands. She told her husband that women should educate themselves and should be recognized for their intellectual capabilities, in order to guide and influence the lives of their children and husbands. In one of her most famous letters, written in March 1776 letter to John and the Continental Congress, she requested that they, "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 particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation."
In response, her husband declined Abigail's "extraordinary code of laws". He replied to Abigail: "We have only the name of masters, and rather than give up this, which would completely subject us to the despotism of the petticoat, I hope General Washington and all our brave heroes would fight."
Both John and Abigail Adams believed that slavery was evil and a threat to the American democratic experiment. In a letter written by Abigail to John on March 31, 1776, she said that she doubted most of the Virginians had such "passion for Liberty" as they claimed they did, since they "deprive their fellow Creatures" of freedom.
Historian Joseph Ellis has described the letters between John and Abigail as having "constituted a treasure trove of unexpected intimacy and candor, more revealing than any other correspondence between a prominent American husband and wife in American history." Although Abigail was self-educated, Ellis has expressed the opinion that she was a better and more colorful letter-writer than her husband, even though he was one of the best correspondents of the age. Ellis calls Abigail one of the most extraordinary women in American history.
It seems that civility was a family trait. When she was living in Philadelphia in 1791, a free black youth came to her house asking to be taught how to write. She placed the boy in a local evening school, over the objections of her neighbors. In response to the complaints of other Philadelphians, Abigail Adams responded that the young man was "a Freeman as much as any of the young Men and merely because his Face is Black, is he to be denied instruction? How is he to be qualified to procure a livelihood? I have not thought it any disgrace to my self to take him into my parlor and teach him both to read and write."