For Love and Country: John and Abigail Adams and the United States of America, part 13

1801 - 1826

“The worthy President always appeared as the friend, who had lived himself into one with the wife of his bosom.”

--An obituary for John Adams

            Following his defeat for the Presidency, John retired from politics to spend time with his family.  He and Abigail stayed in their home, where they frequently hosted their family and friends.  They kept up with politics and current events, especially because their son, John Quincy, was a diplomat.  John also picked up his pen and resumed his correspondence with Thomas Jefferson in 1812.  They wrote about their present lives and the past service they had both performed for their country.  They had not written to each other in nearly a decade, but with both men out of politics, the friendship resumed and continued to their deaths. 

In October 1818, Abigail fell ill once more.  John wrote to Jefferson, on October 20^th, “The dear Partner of my Life for fifty Years as a Wife and for many Years more as a Lover, now lyes in extremis, forbidden to speak or be spoken to” (Cappon, II. 529).  On Monday, October 26, Abigail spoke for the first time in nearly a month.  She told John that if it was the will of Heaven she was ready to die.  She was only living for John.  After John came down the stairs from the room where Abigail had died, he said, “I wish I could lie down beside her and die too” (qtd. in McCullough 623).  After her death, John was truly heart-broken.  In November he wrote to his son, John Quincy, “The separation cannot be so long as twenty separations heretofore.  The pangs and anguish have not been so great as when you and I embarked for France in 1778” (qtd. in McCullough 624).  John never missed Abigail more than he did after her death.  While she was alive, he always had the correspondence with her, even if he could not be with her, and he always could go back home to Abigail.  John lost his closest companion and the person who supported him through everything.

In another letter, this one to his granddaughter Caroline, John wrote, “She never by word or look discouraged me from running all hazards for the salvation of my country’s liberties; she was willing to share with me, and that her children should share with us both, in all the dangerous consequences we had to hazard” (qtd. in Gelles 172).  John knew that Abigail could have protested at any time about John being away, but she always accepted it, and shared with John in all of his failures and successes.

            After Abigail’s death, John continued to spend time with family and friends, and he continued to write to Thomas Jefferson, with Adams’ letters outnumbering Jefferson’s about four to one.  In 1825, John was able to congratulate his son John Quincy on his election as the sixth President of the United States.  On July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson lay in his bed at his home in Monticello.  He died around one o’clock in the afternoon.  On the same day, around six o’clock in the afternoon, John Adams awakened from his sleep on his deathbed.  Told that it was the Fourth of July, Adams responded, “It is a great day.  It is a good day.”  In his final breath around six-twenty, Adams spoke, unaware that his friend had died hours earlier: “Thomas Jefferson lives” (McCullough 647).  An obituary for the late second President read, “The worthy President always appeared as the friend, who had lived himself into one with the wife of his bosom” (Withey 315).  At the time of his death, people realized Adams’ commitment to both his wife and his country.  Although recent biographies have reminded the current generations about Adams’ service to his country, his love for his wife has often been overlooked.  It is important for people today to understand the complete portrait of this exceptional man.

For Love and Country: John and Abigail Adams and the United States of America, part 12

1797 - 1801

“I think of you and dream of you and long to be with you. But I Suppose this must not be yet.”

--John Adams to Abigail Adams from Philadelphia, January 11, 1797 (Adams Family Papers, Correspondence)

The country found out in December 1796 that John Adams had defeated Thomas Jefferson by a whisker for the office of President of the United States.  The highest office in the land now belonged to, arguably, the United States’ leading patriot.  The duty he performed in the name of his country, the sacrifices he had made since the 1770s, the many travels, propelled John to the position he had been aiming for, despite his writings to the contrary.  The victory for Adams meant that he would have to spend time away from Abigail once more, but she did not mind.

John was in Philadelphia, while Abigail remained in Quincy because she was in ill health.  In early January, John wrote home, “I am, with anxious desires to see you, which I fear cannot be gratified before July.”  Abigail wrote almost at the same time, “The Cold has been more severe than I can ever before recollect. It has frozen the ink in my pen, and chilld the Blood in my veins, but not the Warmth of my affection for Him for whom my Heart Beats with unabated ardor through all the changes and visisitudes of Life” (Adams Family Papers, Correspondence 14 Jan 1797, 15 Jan 1797).  The time away from each other affected John and Abigail as much as it did when John was in Europe.

On March 4, 1797, John Adams was inaugurated second President of the United States of America.  Abigail was not there, although she was no less proud of her husband.  Less than two weeks after the inauguration, John began writing to Abigail about how he missed her.  First, he wrote, “I can not live without you till October,” which was when Abigail was supposed to arrive in Philadelphia.  Days later, he wrote, “I never wanted your Advice and assistance more in my Life.”  At the beginning of April he became more desperate in his pleas.  “I have written you before and have only time now to repeat that I pray you to come on,” he wrote.  Two days later he urged her, “I pray you to come on immediately.  I will not live in this State of Separation.  Leave the Place[. . .]to any body or nobody.  I care nothing about it – But you, I must and will have” (qtd. in Gelles 128).  He continued with this request every few days in letters to Abigail. 

It would be late April before Abigail began her journey to Philadelphia.  She wrote to John from Springfield, Massachusetts as she was on her way, “I come to place my head upon your Bosom and to receive and give that consolation which sympathetick hearts alone know how to communicate.”  John responded to her before she arrived, without concealing what lay ahead, “You and I are now entering on a new Scene, which will be the most difficult, and least agreable of any in our Lives. I hope the burthen will be lighter to both of Us, when We come together” (Adams Family Papers, Correspondence 30 Apr 1797, 4 May 1797).  John would face many struggles over the next few years, and Abigail would be there beside him through the grueling times, defending her husband along the way.

In March 1798, John found out about the French attempts to bribe American diplomats.  The events, which became known as the XYZ Affair (the French agents were initially known as X, Y and Z), led to a quasi-war with France.  In May, with fear of a general war breaking out, Adams proposed the creation of a Department of the Navy to Congress.  Congress approved the plan, and the Navy became one of John’s proudest achievements.  The Affair and Adams’ response to it, however, created some animosity in the nation.  The press published scathing columns against Adams.  This angered both Abigail and John, who felt John should be above such commentary because of his patriotic track record.  Adams charged that French agents in the United States were behind such reports and that they were hoping to tear the new nation apart.  With Abigail’s support, John signed the Alien and Sedition Acts.  This decision was probably the worst made by Adams in his political life. 

The acts, intended to prevent criticism of the government, were seen by many as unconstitutional.  Most likely, the Acts cost Adams re-election to the Presidency in 1800.  Despite that, John and Abigail stood together behind the decision.  With Abigail back in Quincy for the winter, they exchanged letters on politics.  “With respect to what is past,” Abigail wrote at the end of the year,

all was intended for the best, and you have the Satisfaction of knowing that you have faithfully served your generation, that you have done it at the expence of all private Considerations and you do not know whether you would have been a happier Man in private, than you have been in publick Life. The exigencies of the times were such as call'd you forth. You considerd yourself as performing your duty. With these considerations, I think you have not any cause for regret. (Adams Family Papers, Correspondence 28 Dec 1798)

Abigail stood by John and his decisions until the end of his political career, which was fast approaching.

            Most of the years 1799 and 1800, John and Abigail would spend together, attending to the business of the President and First Lady.  On November 1, 1800, John Adams became the first President to live in the President’s House in the new city of Washington.  The word city is used lightly, as most of the federal buildings, including the President’s House were not yet completed, housing scarcely existed, and shacks housing workers were all over the city, including on the President’s front lawn.  Abigail joined John in the middle of November, but their time in Washington would be short-lived. 

In December, John found out that he had been defeated for the Presidency.  Thomas Jefferson won the election and Aaron Burr finished second in the voting, making him Vice President.  In a final controversial move, John appointed members of his party to judicial posts in January and February, before Jefferson came into office in March.  Four years later, Jefferson wrote Abigail that he considered those appointments “personally unkind.”  Abigail, as always, defended her husband by informing Jefferson that the appointments were perfectly legal and were “not intended to give any personal pain of offence” (Cappon, I. 270, 271).  John left Washington the night before Jefferson’s inauguration on March 4, 1801.  He and Abigail would finally get to spend time together, with John out of politics and able to concentrate his time and energy on his family and farm.  John, in fact, had written to her in January, “I must be farmer John of Stoneyfield [his farm] and nothing more (I hope nothing less) for the rest of my life” (qtd. in McCullough 559).  Despite some difficult times, John Adams had served his country for over twenty-five years. 

For Love and Country: John and Abigail Adams and the United States of America, part 7

1777 - 1779

“You wish you had ventured with me–I wish you was here–no I don’t, I wish I was there.” 

--John Adams to Abigail Adams from Passy, France, Dec 10, 1778 (Butterfield, III. 134)

            John was in Europe from 1778 to 1788, except for a brief three-month return to Massachusetts in 1779 (as well as three more months for travel time).  Abigail did not arrive in Europe until July 1784.  The six years of almost total absence strained the marriage briefly, especially during the first year and a half before John came back to Massachusetts.  This year and a half was particularly difficult for Abigail because she was not receiving correspondence from John on a regular basis the way she had when he was in Philadelphia.  It was also more treacherous to travel over the ocean, particularly during war time.  Interception and loss of letters was far more common at sea than on land during this period.  The gaps in communication led Abigail to gloominess and complaints.

On November 27, 1777, John Adams was elected by Congress to be a commissioner to France, along with Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee.  John spent the remainder of his time before his voyage with Abigail.  On February 14, 1778, John boarded the frigate Boston with his son, John Quincy, to sail for France.  Abigail was aware that his position was an important one both for the country and for John’s career. The next day she wrote to John Thaxter, a former law clerk of John’s and a tutor to the Adams’ children, “Your Friend might be more extensively usefull to his Country in this Department at this perticuliar time, than in any other.  I resign my own personal felicity and look for my satisfaction in the Consciousness of having discharged my duty to the publick” (Butterfield, II. 390).  John and Abigail were willing to suffer some personal unhappiness for the sake of John’s political career.  Their love was strong enough to endure the separations, and their belief in the revolution and their formidable sense of public duty allowed their marriage and their country to survive (Withey 75).

Other Congressmen declined to stay longer than one or two terms.  Other men representing the United States overseas cared little for their families, or simply did not have a family (Benjamin Franklin is a good example of the former, Thomas Jefferson of the latter after the passing of his wife).  John, however, accepted every appointment, near and far.  Abigail never attempted to convince him to decline any public position.  The couple was committed to the country and its cause and John was tied to its failure or success.  Should the revolution fail, John would be sought by the British and tried for treason, the penalty being death.  But should the revolution succeed, John would be a hero for his service, exalted and rewarded.  Still, John could have declined appointments and remained in service to his country in some other way.  John, however, felt that if his country asked him to serve in a particular capacity, he must do his best in that role, and Abigail agreed wholeheartedly. 

As John was leaving for France, the couple could not foresee that they would spend most of the next ten years apart from each other, suffering private wants for the sake of the public good (Withey 115).  While Abigail was cheerless at John’s absence, she took pleasure in knowing that she was John’s best friend and confidant.  Abigail kept abreast of events by writing correspondence to many people, including members of Congress, her good friend Mercy Otis Warren, and political figures.  They would keep her informed of the events in the States, in Europe and with John, especially when his communication was wanting, which would become often (Gelles 26).  Correspondence that John and Abigail sent to each other while John was in Philadelphia faced the dangers of interception or loss.  It also took time for letters to reach their destination, as they could only travel as fast as the rider carrying them.  The time and the dangers were nothing compared to what the couple would face after John boarded the Boston to sail for France.  Delays were the norm.  Storms kept ships in port; if an enemy ship came in for an attack, the letter-carrying ship usually threw all letters overboard to avoid the interception of sensitive material and letters were simply lost.  Moreover, even in peacetime, it took a letter months to cross the Atlantic instead of the days it took to go from Philadelphia to Boston.  John, being “so sensible of the Difficulty of conveying Letters safe,” was afraid to write anything more to Abigail then to tell her that “after all the Fatigues and Dangers of my Voyage, and Journey, I am here in Health” (Butterfield, III. xxviii, 9).  All of the letters John had written to Abigail while at sea were most likely lost for Abigail heard nothing of John for over two months.

As September rolled around, Abigail had scarcely heard from John.  The little she knew about him was what she heard through friends.  She wrote to John Thaxter in the beginning of September that she had only heard from her husband twice, and both of those letters came in April.  By the end of that month, Abigail wrote again to John; she acknowledged that four vessels bound from France to Boston had been captured, supposing that some letters from John had been lost in the process.  “If I had realized before you left me that the intercourse between us would have been so hazardous,” Abigail wrote to John on the twenty-ninth of September, “I fear my magninimnity would have faill’d me”  (Butterfield, III. 94-95).  Abigail was impatient and nervous.  She was also upset that John had gone, or that she had not gone with him and let him know this in the letters she wrote to France.  By November, Abigail would receive three letters from John.  “I cannot discribe the Effect they had upon me,” she wrote of his letters.  “Cheerfullness and tranquility took place of grief and anxiety” (Butterfield, III. 109). 

John was to receive the letters of complaint from Abigail the following month.  In what would be the only time in any of the letters that either John or Abigail showed any anger towards the other, John would send Abigail two separate letters chiding her for her complaints.  “For Heavens Sake, my dear dont indulge a Thought that it is possible for me to neglect, or forget all that is dear to me in this World,” John wrote on December 2.    “It is impossible for me to write as I did in America.  What should I write?  It is not safe to write any Thing.”  John wrote to her again on December 18^th after receiving another letter from Abigail complaining that John had not been writing enough, or with enough feeling.  This time, he responded more heatedly,

This is the third Letter I have recd. in this complaining style. the former two I have not answer'd.–I had Endeavour'd to answer them.–I have wrote several answers, but upon a review, they appear'd to be such I could not send. One was angry, another was full of Greif, and the third with Melancholy, so that I burnt them all….Am I not wretched Enough, in this Banishment, without this….I beg you would never more write to me in such a strain for it really makes me unhappy.

He closed his letter, however, on a more loving note.  “Be assured that no time nor place, can change my heart…& that I write to you so often as my Duty will permit” (Butterfield, III. 124, 138).  The time it took for letters to travel allowed for some of Abigail’s complaints to come through after John had sent his two letters in December.  In February 1779, the final angry letter between the two would be sent.  “For Gods sake,” John wrote, “never reproach me again with not writing or with Writing Scrips [scraps].  Your Wounds are too deep” (Butterfield, III. 174).  Abigail and John never mentioned the incident again, nor did the letter-writing relationship come close to breaking down ever again.

            In February, John learned that Benjamin Franklin had been appointed minister to France,

superceding the joint commission that Adams was serving on.*  With no further instructions sent to

him, John wrote home to tell Abigail joyously that he would soon be making his way back to her. 

Abigail responded days before John was to board the French frigate La Sensible back to Boston, that

the ship  “may bring me comfortable tidings from my dear dear Friend whose welfare is so essential to

 my happiness that it is entwined round my Heart, and cannot be impared or seperated from it without

 rendering it assunder” (Butterfield, III. 200).  She knew, however, that John would not remain at

home for long if his country needed him.  John arrived back in Boston on August 3, 1779.  A difficult

time, both for the Adamses’ marriage and for the nation, had passed.  The separation, however, would

continue for a few more years as John would only be at home with his dear friend for a couple of

months before his country required his services again. 

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* John Adams was appointed to replace Silas Deane to be a joint commissioner of France with Benjamin Franklin to work at attaining an alliance with France.  By the time Adams arrived, Franklin had already obtained the alliance with France.  Adams’ commission was dissolved and no further instructions were sent to him.

For Love and Country: John and Abigail Adams and the United States of America, part 2

Contemporaries

“Your Country is not yet, quite Secure enough, to excuse your Retreat to the Delights of domestic Life.  Yet, for the Soul of me, when I attend to my own Feelings, I cannot blame you.”

--John Adams to Thomas Jefferson,  May 26, 1777 (Cappon, I. 6)

To better understand the Adamses and their deep commitment to each other and their country, a contrast can be drawn between them and their contemporaries.  Men such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, served their country in a political sense during and immediately following the Revolutionary War. *  Though they shared a sense of patriotism equal to John and Abigail Adams, it is impossible to find the same patriotic commitment that the Adamses shared among their contemporaries.  Many of their contemporaries married to consolidate their positions in society, to acquire property or to advance themselves socially (Wood 28).  John and Abigail married out of the love and respect they had for each other.

If any Revolutionary War era couple comes close to John and Abigail Adams, it is the Washingtons.  George Washington married Martha Custis, who was a rich widow.  Martha Washington often followed George Washington during the Revolutionary War, putting herself in danger while doing what she could to help the soldiers (Smith, Presidents 10).  She, however, did not have to spend years at a time away from George as Abigail did from John.  Another difference is that John Adams saw his wife as an equal (as much as a woman could be a man’s equal in that time), speaking and writing to her about politics and other intellectual ideas, among other items.  Martha, on the other hand, did not participate in political or intellectual conversations with George Washington (Smith, Presidents 10).



Another contemporary, Thomas Jefferson, was married to Martha Wayles Skelton, a rich widow in 1772.  When Martha was weak (especially after child birth), Jefferson would leave or decline political duties assigned to him in order to be with his wife.  John Adams never left his posts, even when Abigail or another family member was sick.  John wrote, in 1775, “If I should hear more disagreable Advices from you I shall certainly come home, for I cannot leave you, in such Affliction[. . .]unless there was an absolute Necessity of my staying here, to do a Duty to the Public” (Butterfield, I. 291).  Abigail, their children and Abigail’s mother were all sick, as were many others in town around her.  Abigail’s mother would die; still John would not come home, despite what he wrote.   Jefferson was extremely distraught at his wife’s passing in 1782.  He spent her final months at her bedside, and after she died he spent three weeks in his room and five months further without communicating with anyone (Padover 111).  He, unlike Adams, was willing to forgo public duty for private matters.



Benjamin Franklin married Deborah Read, but it was more of a pragmatic arrangement.  In fact, historian Gordon Wood suggests that the real reason Franklin married Deborah may have been because Franklin had a son from another woman and Deborah would raise him (40).  Franklin spent much of his marriage (fifteen of the last seventeen years) in Europe and was especially fond of the women of Paris, and they of him.  Franklin’s friend in England, William Strahan, even wrote to Deborah to try to persuade her to join Ben in Europe, even going so far as to allude to him possibly being unfaithful (Isaacson 178-179).  Deborah still would not leave America.  Franklin’s letters to Deborah have little intellectual or emotional content, being mostly concerned with business matters at home, while his letters to women friends show much more playfulness, emotion and intellect (Isaacson 180). 

The other leading couples of the time may have been patriotic and committed to each other, but no couple of the time displayed the level of commitment to both family and country as did the Adamses.

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* Other leading couples of the period, such as James and Dolley Madison and James and Elizabeth Monroe, took part in Revolutionary events, but were not married until after the Revolution had ended.  During the Revolutionary War, James Madison served in the legislature of the state of Virginia (1776-1779).  He was a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1780 to 1783, as the war was coming to a close.  At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Madison drafted the basis of what was to become the Constitution that the United States has today.  It was not until 1794 that he married Dolley Payne Todd.  James Monroe joined the military as a sixteen year old and saw action as a soldier during the Revolutionary War.  He fought in numerous battles and was seriously wounded at the Battle of Trenton.  In 1780, he studied law under Thomas Jefferson, and from 1782 onward, he served in government positions.  In 1786, three years after the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Revolution, he married Elizabeth Kortright.

For Love and Country: John and Abigail Adams and the United States of America, part 1

The following posts are taken from research done for my graduate thesis in 2007.  In this thirteen-part series I used primarily the letters written between John and Abigail to demonstrate how the Adamses reconciled their intense love for each other with the love they had for their country.

“Letter-Writing is, to me, the most agreable Amusement I can find: and Writing  to you the most entertaining and Agreable of all Letter-Writing.”

--John Adams to Abigail Adams,  April 12, 1764 (Butterfield, I. 24)

The love that John and Abigail Adams shared was boundless and has since become celebrated, but that love for each other was intricately woven with the love each spouse had for his or her country.  The letters they exchanged with each other in the time that John was away, riding the court circuit in New England, attending meetings of Congress in Philadelphia, on diplomatic missions in Europe, and while he was Vice President and President, provide an insight into the two intense loves that they both maintained throughout their lives. It was never thought that John was abandoning his marriage or family.  Rather, his time away in the service of his country was viewed as a sacrifice that the family had to make.  Their letters reveal the deep and passionate love between John and Abigail as well as the love they had for their country. 

Many writers have depicted John as a man searching for fame and power, but there is more to him than that.  That is John Adams on the surface and in his public life.  Beneath this, however, is someone entirely different.  He was a caring man who deeply loved his wife, his family and his country.  In his day, John was recognized for the love he shared with his wife as well as his love for his country.  Recent scholarship, however, has emphasized only one aspect of John.  This representation does a disservice to John Adams, as the entire individual is not revealed.

Although love is a difficult thing to define, most people know love when they see it.  In reading the letters that John and Abigail wrote to each other as well as ones they wrote to their friends and contemporaries, the intense love they had for each other and for the country come out in unmistakable fashion.  Since love is difficult to measure, a better word to use may be commitment.  In this text, the words will be used interchangeably.  Love does not need to be quantified though in order to see that these two different loves are of equal importance to both John and Abigail.  Their letters bear this out. 

A comparison with some of their contemporaries will help to better understand the unique love shared between John and Abigail and the commitment they had to their country.  No other leading couple of the Revolutionary period carries such a claim.  The Adamses had an acquaintance and courtship of five years before marrying, but the following year the America Colonies would begin their break from Great Britain, and John would be a major player in the action.  Over the next ten years, John would take an ever-growing role in Colonial attempts to reconcile with Great Britain.  His role would take him ever further from his home and from Abigail.  The war began while John was in Philadelphia to debate actions the Colonies could take.  Soon, John was helping to draft a document that would declare the Colonies free of British rule.

The new freedom would take John even further from home than before.  Before 1777, the farthest John had been from his home in Massachusetts was Philadelphia, a few days coach ride from home.  In 1777, John made a voyage to Europe to serve his country there as a representative of the government, and was to see home only once in the next 10 years.  He and Abigail would see each other for only about three months over the seven years between 1777 and 1784, before Abigail would spend four years with John in Europe.  They arrived home in 1788, but less than a year later, John was elected the first Vice President of the United States under the newly approved Constitution.  After serving eight years in that capacity, John was elected second President of the United States.  Abigail spent some of those years traveling with John, but other years she would simply stay home to conserve money or because she was ill.  In 1801, John found out he had been defeated by his old friend Thomas Jefferson* for the Presidency of the United States.  He traveled home to Abigail, where they enjoyed the next 17 years together and with family until Abigail’s death in 1818.  John lived until 1826, never forgetting the one he loved or all he had done for his country.

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* John Adams and Thomas Jefferson met at the Continental Congress and were good friends through the war, with the Adamses even watching Jefferson’s daughter for some time in Europe.  When John became Vice President, his view of the Constitution was different Jefferson’s view.  It is from this time that the Adams-Jefferson rivalry begins.  It continued as Adams defeated Jefferson by a margin of three electoral votes to become the second President of the United States.  Four years later, Jefferson defeated Adams.  Jefferson was upset at some last minute judiciary appointments that John Adams (legally) made before leaving office, further fanning the flames.   John left the city of Washington in the early morning hours on Jefferson’s inauguration day.  After Jefferson served two terms as President, he retired to Monticello.  A mutual friend, Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia, attempted to mend the friendship sometime around 1809.  With both men out of public life, their correspondence renewed and their friendship grew again.