Abigail Adams, Some Clarifications

This blog is not moving at an ideal pace. I apologize for that. In the interest of moving forward, this entry will include only very brief clarifications on my original thoughts on Abigail Adams, quick and undetailed, entirely from memory since I finished the biography more two weeks ago. That way I can feel comfortable moving ahead to Thomas Jefferson and the women in his life.    

I think the most important thing to clarify about Abigail Adams is that her ideas about both race and women were complicated and often contradictory. Adams may have included a condemnation of slavery in her "remember the ladies letter," but she didn't necessarily believe in equal ability or opportunity for blacks in America. And she was appalled by the idea of interracial relationships, most glaringly addressed in a letter she wrote after seeing a performance of Othello when in London (I'm almost certain it was London; definitely during her time living abroad with John). She may have believed that women had every right to personal property, in defiance of the law, and that women were at a disadvantage in a society that did not value education for them, but Adams also believed women should, above all else, abide by their duties happily. Adams was downright mean to her daughter-in-law when she complained about her unhappiness as a diplomatic wife abroad. Adams could also be terribly judgmental of other women; she was especially cruel in her judgments of foreign women.   

It is also important to clarify that Abigail Adams grew wealthy through speculation in government bonds. She relied on her male cousin to act as her representative when needed, but she claimed the wealth as her own and doled it out in her own personal will. It was a method to wealth that defied her husband's more conservative desire to invest in land, since she shrewdly knew that she would have no legal recourse in physical property until after John's death. Abigail Adams could, however, be blind to the ways in the risky practice of bond speculation was making her rich while bottoming out the investments and livelihoods of other Americans, including her own relations. Adams could be unnecessarily meddlesome in the lives of her relations, but even that trait could not prevent the failure and untimely death (due to alcoholism) of more than one male relative.   

But I'll soon get to learn more about one of her sons who achieved great success – John Quincy Adams, sixth U. S. President.