“REMEMBER THE LADIES”

Letter written by Abigail Adams to John Adams

Milagros Laquidain,
Grado de Estudios Ingleses. UNED, centro asociado de Pamplona
 Milagros Laquidain, Grado de Estudios Ingleses. UNED Pamplona

This text is a historical document that forms part of a personal letter written by Abigail
Adams, second First Lady of the United States, to her husband, Congressman John
Adams, the 31st March 1776 in Braintree (Massachussets). The former pertains to a
large collection of letters exchanged by Abigail and her husband, which comprise more
than 1.200 missives.
Abigail Adams penned this letter to her husband eleven years after the “Stamp Act” and
some months before the signature of the Declaration of Independence of the United
States of America. Since 1763, after the Seven Years War, the relationship between
Britain and the American colonies started to break down. Increasing taxes that the
British Empire had imposed on the colonies and the fact that they were expected to
accept them despite not having representation in the Parliament in London, were key
factors in the outbreak of the first uprisings and riots among the colonies. The “Stamp
Act” was a turning point which caused the first significant reactions. The motto of the
defenders of the colonies, “no taxation without representation”, summarized the root of
this incipient crisis (Paredes et al 44). Few years after, in 1773, when the British Empire
once again applied a harsh tax on the tea from the East India Company, the “Boston Tea
Party” took place. A group of colonists boycotted a British ship and threw all the tea
shipment to the sea. This event is an icon of the first days of the Independence
Revolution of America (1775-1783).
The year after the “Tea Party”, delegates from the thirteen colonies met in the First
Continental Congress in Philadelphia. This Congress was to be the governing body of
the United States during the American Revolution. In 1776, one year after the first
military engagements in Lexington and Concord (Boston Campaign), the Second
Continental Congress took place. Finally, all of the representing delegates of these
colonies agreed to break from the Crown rule and signed the Declaration of
Independence. One of the promoters of the independence cause was John Adams who,
together with Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson,
James Madison, and George Washington, is considered to be one of the key Founding
Fathers of the United States of America.
As a consequence of this political and military confrontation between loyalists (pro-
British) and patriots (colonists), the economy of the colonies was harshly damaged.
Harbours were closed and shipments coming from the British Empire could not enter
the country. A boycott of British commerce was decreed during the second Continental
Congress. In addition, people stopped buying things taxed by the British. As a

1
 Milagros Laquidain, Grado de Estudios Ingleses. UNED Pamplona

consequence, certain basic goods coming from the British Empire started to become
scarce.
Abigail Adams (1744-1818), considered one of the greatest American women, was
aware of this harsh reality. She was born in Weymouth (Massachussets), into a wealthy
family. According to the spirit of the time and also due to her feeble health, she did not
receive a formal education at school. On the contrary, she was instructed by her mother
at home. As a result of this self-education and her insatiable interest in reading she
became one of the most erudite women that ever passed through the White House
(Charles Rivers Editors, chap. 5, sec. 724). After her wedding with John Adams, who
was in that moment a promising lawyer, they moved to Braintree, ten miles far from
Boston, scenario of the first battles of the war. Due to her husband’s active participation
in political life, his absences from home were common. As a result, she had to provide
for her house and her children without help, much of the time. In order to keep in
contact with her husband, an active correspondence between the couple arose. These
separations characterized their marriage during the almost sixty years that it lasted. The
result comprises an invaluable historical testimony of the War of Independence of
America and the reality of the time. Abigail Adams is remembered for this
correspondence which depicts the special relationship that bonded the couple. These
letters give us an accurate statement of the role that Abigail played, politically and
personally, in her husband’s life. Eventually, John Adams became the second President
of the United States of America. As a First Lady, Abigail was a distinguished spouse
with solid political beliefs. And this fact was transferred to the public opinion, who
dubbed her “Mrs. President” (Kelley, chap. 8, sec. 473). However, since her childhood
she had also been aware of the differences existing between the education of men and
women, and this, among other factors, made her a staunch defender of the rights of
women. The role of women in the eighteenth century was determined by the English
common law. Women were absolutely dependent on men and as soon as they got
married, their existence as legal individuals banished (Mauk and Oakland 79). Her wish
for equality also led her to radical stances against slavery.
This letter, “Remember the ladies” is one of the most notorious letters of the whole
collection. Probably, the reason for this is the historical moment in which it was written
and the fact that it makes explicit reference to the most significant document of the
history of America: the Declaration of Independence. Abigail contacts her husband
while he is in Philadelphia attending the Second Continental Congress. As in almost all

2
 Milagros Laquidain, Grado de Estudios Ingleses. UNED Pamplona

her letters, she updates her husband about their situation at home and inquiries about the
military and political actions that the patriots were undertaking (Adams family papers).
What makes this letter special is that in it, she reminds her husband not to forget the
ladies in the “new Code of Laws” in which they were working: the Declaration of
Independence.
The letter starts with a direct reference to their “common enemy”. Abigail was a fervent
defender of the independence of the colonies and believed that the war was a tool they
had to use in order to obtain it (Kelley, chap.3, sec.116). In 1774 the Boston Campaign
took place. It finished in 1776 when the army moved to other territories such as
Virginia. The proximity of Braintree from Boston allowed Abigail to live this first stage
of the war very closely. She explicitly asks about the defence strategy that Virginia
could offer. Virginia played a prominent role in the war, both by supplying leadership,
George Washington was Virginians, and as the arena of many military events (Virginia
and the American). She also expresses her disappointment with Virginia, whose
Governor during the conflict was John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, known as Lord
Dunmore. He was famous for his Dunmore’s Proclamation, which was an attempt to
stop the rebel colonialist cause in Virginia. He offered freedom to all slaves who left
their patriot masters and joined the British. Although this proclamation inspired a huge
number of blacks to join their troops, probably no more than 800 achieved it (Summary
of Dunmore’s). This short sentence written by Abigail lets us know, implicitly, that she
is concerned about slavery, disappointed with people’s reactions and ashamed of
Dunmor’s attitude.
She continuous her letter exposing her wish to “hear they have declared an
independancy [sic]” and asking him directly to “remember the ladies in the new Code of
Laws”. John Adams was participating in the second Congress and, although it was
Thomas Jefferson who wrote the text of the declaration, he had great influence on the
content. As said before, Abigail and John were defenders of the independence of the
United States, and at last, they were very close to achieving this goal. Concerning her
inquiry about women, and in order to understand the striking nature of this request, it is
essential to situate the letter in the context of a chauvinist society where women were
property of their husbands, were not allowed to vote, to receive formal education or to
sign contracts. After getting married they experienced a “civil death” (Mauk and
Oakland 79). She also reminds him to be “more generous and favourable to them than
their ancestors”. She is referring there to the British. Women’s status was determined by

3
 Milagros Laquidain, Grado de Estudios Ingleses. UNED Pamplona

the English Common Law (Mauk and Oakland 79). She goes on reminding him “that all
men would be tyrants”. Implicitly she is making reference to their “common enemies”,
the British Empire led by the King George III. Through this parallelism she wants to
explain to her husband that women feel exactly the same as the colonists; nor the
women neither the colonists wants to be bound by Laws in which they have no voice.
Colonists do not have representation in the Parliament of London and women do not
have representation in the United States. She foresees the Rebellion that women would
undertake some years after this Declaration.
She states that men should not be masters of their wives, but their “endearing” friends.
She is implicitly making reference to the special relationship that she holds with her
husband. She refers to herself in many of their correspondence as “your ever faithful
Friend”. Obviously her feminist ideas are far from the future women’s movements. She
asserts that women are “beings placed by providence under your protection”, so this
gives us a glimpse of the mentality of the time. And in spite of this, she demonstrates
that her ideas are ahead of her time. Additionally, John’s answer to this part of the letter
is absolutely contemptuous: “I cannot but laugh”, he says in an attempt to placate her
wife. And apparently, so he does, because no mention to women appears in the original
Declaration of Independence.
Apparently, she was not able to dispatch the letter so she added two extra paragraphs.
There she updates her husband about the hideous situation they are living due to the
Cranker fever. Diseases jeopardized their lives very frequently. Just some months
before, a dysentery epidemic caused by unclean water and food killed many of their
neighbours and some close relatives (Kelley, chap.3, sec.136).
In addition, as Abigail shows in the last paragraph, the scarceness of basic goods
worried her greatly. And so it did for many other families. As nothing was coming from
England, people in Boston (and many other areas) were running out of things they
needed. Abigail remarks in her letter that she had already manufactured soap and had
spun clothes for her family. She even suggests that she is considering the elaboration of
saltpeter to produce gunpowder. Moreover, she offers herself to send her husband a
formula she has had access to with information about this elaboration. This part of the
text reflects how deep involved is Abigail with the independence cause and that she
supports the war in order to obtain it. Through these words, she encourages her husband
to proceed with the war effort in order to achieve the long awaited independence of their
country.

4
 Milagros Laquidain, Grado de Estudios Ingleses. UNED Pamplona

To conclude, the significance of this letter resides in the visionary view of Abigail
Adams concerning women and their role in society. This document represents the
foundations of the development of the American feminist movement. Actually, she
influenced future women leaders such as Lucretia Mott or Elisabeth Cady Stanton, who
in 1848 read the Declaration of Sentiments in Seneca Falls (Internet Encyclopedia of
Philosophy). As Abigail had predicted, some 70 years after this letter, the rebellion of
women took place. This proclamation emerges as a response to the Declaration of
Independence, where no mention to women appears. It maintains the same layout as its
predecessor in order to reclaim the position that the rights of women should have had in
the initial Declaration. This letter, “Remember the ladies”, lets us know that this
concern for equality dates back to the first days of the Declaration of Independence.
Finally, in 1920 the federal government of the United States approved the vote for
women and little by little legal and social measures were taken to facilitate equality.
Paradoxically, one of the impediments that the feminist movement experienced appears
in the letter: “women are Beings placed by providence under your protection”. The
belief -among men and unfortunately also among women- that women are the weaker
sex has hampered the achivement of equality with men; an issue that remains
problematic.
As far as I am concerned, the society at the time was not ready to hear the great advice
that Abigail gave them. She had direct contact with one of the most influential men in
the process of the independence of the United States, she served him the information on
a silver plate and he deliberately disregarded her. Obviously, the society was heavily
influenced by the founders, the first waves of immigration and the costums and values
that they brought from their own homelands. It is a fact that the Declaration of
Independence is an icon of democracy and liberty and has directly influenced the
political development of many European countries. However, personally I believe that
they wasted an incredible opportunity of creating an unseen precedent by adding women
and minority groups in this new code of laws. In their battle against Britain for their
liberty, these patriots did not realize that they were leaving more than half of the people
they were representing aside: the women and of course, the slaves. In spite of the
attempts to break ties with the Mother Country, almost unintentionally, they were
maintaining their most terrible bequest: their disability to treat everyone as equal human
beings. And from my point of view, this is the greatest mistake of the Declaration of
Independence.

5
 Milagros Laquidain, Grado de Estudios Ingleses. UNED Pamplona

REFERENCES

 Abigail Adams" Remember the Ladies" letter (1776).Web. 20th March 2016
 Kelley, True and John O’Brien. Who was Abigail Adams. New York (USA):
Penguin Group, 2014. Kindle Edition.
 Mauk, David and John Oakland. American Civilization: An Introduction. New
York (USA): Routledge, 2014
 Charles Rivers Editors. The Top 5 Greatest American Women: Abigail Adams,
Susan B. Anthony, Helen Keller, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Hillary Clinton.
Cambridge (USA): Charles Rivers Editors, 2013. Kindle Edition.
 Summary of Dunmore's Proclamation. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Web. 25th March 2016
 Virginia and the American Revolution. United States History. Web. 25th March
2016
 Paredes, Francisco Javier et al. Historia Universal Contemporánea. Madrid:
Tempo, 1994
 Adams Family papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachussets Historical Society.
Web. 26th March 2016
 Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815—1902).
Web. 25th March 2016