3. Abigail Adams counseled her husband John, as well as several other Founding Fathers
John Adams, during his many long absences, while serving in the Continental Congress and later as Minister to France, relied on his wife Abigail as his closest political advisor. It wasn’t only John who sought her counsel. Abigail corresponded regularly with Washington, Jefferson, Dr. Benjamin Rush, James Madison, Lafayette, and several others of the Founders. In her letters, she advocated women’s rights, denounced slavery, and defended her husband’s views and actions. When John Adams lost the election of 1800 to Thomas Jefferson, he took the step of appointing several federal judges to the bench before the new President’s inauguration. Jefferson gently complained to Abigail in a letter, referring to the action as “personally unkind”.
Abigail responded to the new President, strongly supporting her husband, and condemning Jefferson’s acceptance of the “lowest and vilest slander” presented by others against Adams during the campaign. During her husband’s administration, her influence was such that his political enemies referred to her as Mrs. President. Throughout her life, she lobbied (though the term was not yet known) for gender equality in public education and full property rights for women. In a 1776 letter to John Adams, sent prior to independence, Abigail wrote, in reference to women’s subservience to men, “We have it in our power not only to free ourselves but to subdue our masters, and without violence throw both your natural and legal authority at our feet…”
Also Read: Here Are 10 Members of the Adams Family Who Proved Their Worth.