Abigail Adams, Witness to a Revolution, was one of the greatest writers of her age. She passionately campaigned for women's education, denounced sex discrimination, and matched intelligence not only with her husband, John, but also with Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. She wrote more than two thousand letters about her legacy that her family members saved, recognizing their importance and ignoring her plea to burn them. Abigail’s letters are her biography and it is through them that we understand her unique character, sense of humor, independent spirit, and her English language. It is through her writing that opens a window to our nation’s history and brings Abigail Adams and her time to life.
On November 11, 1744, Abigail Adams was born Abigail Smith. She lived in a small town of Weymouth, Massachusetts and lived with her two parents William and Elizabeth Quincy Smith. She had two sisters and one brother, Mary, Elizabeth, and William. When Abigail was a little girl she always asked her mother if she could go to school. Her mother said no so her grandmother taught her to read and write at home. Abigail loved to read books from her father’s library and listened in on her father’s meetings. She loved books and politics and was a very clever and talented girl. As a teenager, Abigail had many friends that she wrote letters to. She was always very self-conscious and worried about her spelling and punctuation since she didn’t have a proper education. One of Abigail’s many friends who wrote letters to her was John Adams.
When Abigail was nineteen years old she married John Adams on October 25, 1764. John Adams was a lawyer in the Smith family home of Weymouth, Massachusetts and was married by Abigail’s father, Reverend Smith. As a married couple they moved to Braintree and lived in a house that John inherited from his father. John was a very intelligent man who wanted to become a farmer as a boy, but his father