Abigail Adams: Advocacy for Women's Rights in America

This essay examines Abigail Adams' significant role as a revolutionary American woman, focusing on her advocacy for women's rights and social equality during the American Revolution. It explores her upbringing, education, and marriage to John Adams, highlighting how these factors shaped her views on the limitations faced by women in the 18th century. The essay analyzes her arguments for women's education, property rights, and the need for policies to protect women from male dominance. It also discusses her religious beliefs, particularly Unitarianism, and how they influenced her commitment to social justice and the rights of marginalized groups, including slaves. The essay concludes by emphasizing her intellectual contributions and her lasting impact on the fight for women's rights and a more equitable society.

ABIGAIL ADAMS A REVOLUTIONARY AMERICAN WOMAN 1
Name
Institution Affiliation
Date

ABIGAIL ADAMS A REVOLUTIONARY AMERICAN WOMAN 2
Abigail Adams A Revolutionary American Woman
Introduction
Abigail Adams remains to be one of the greatest silent idols in the United States and
globally. Abigail went through, hardship, war, disease, pain, and so in the quest of promoting
social equalities. She was like a contemporary woman despite living during the colonial period.
Abigail strongly supported the American Revolution because she advocated for women’s right.
During her time, women were often demeaned because of their gender irrespective of their
achievements and competences. Women struggled to survive in a male-dominated society where
they were made to believe that they belonged within the domestic space. During the 18th
century, a number of women courageously fought for women’s rights, especially those that were
accessible to men but restricted to women. According to Dodge (2015, 139), Abigail became the
strongest voice for women during the American Revolution as a key political consultant to her
husband John Adams, becoming the first American first lady to live in the White House. Thus,
Abigail’s support for the American Revolution was driven by the need to advocate for equal
rights for women across the United States.
Abigail believed that women deserved equal rights, opportunities and freedoms as their
male counterparts. As a second child in a family of four, she was lucky to be raised in an
influential family of merchants, ministers and statement (Bober 2010, 6). While her father was a
minister, her mother was a classic housewife. Her family believed and enthusiastically affirmed
their beliefs for rational puritanism, strong religious faith and education. However, she was
introduced to the limitation of being a woman from a tender age since she was not able to acquire
formal education. Education was vital during the 18th century, but it was mainly preserved for

ABIGAIL ADAMS A REVOLUTIONARY AMERICAN WOMAN 3
boys (Dodge, 2015). The limitation continued even after he got married to John as she was
required to take care of their family while her husband would travel continuously as a
revolutionary political lawyer.
Abigail gradually became a strong believer of the right to education for women as a way
of revolutionizing society. She held that women ought not only to be recognized for their
contribution within the domestic space but also for their intellectual abilities (Bober 2010, 6).
Women only received education for reading and writing only to enable them to interpret letters
and read the bible. Education for females was viewed as a hindrance blocking family and
marriage life. In her advocacy, she wrote to her husband, reminding him about the dominance of
male’s ignorance of the lack of education for women. She wanted a liberal plan to be
implemented for the benefit of all. Women possessed similar intellectual abilities, and by
educating them, they would play a vital role in transforming the social environment (Shuffelton
2010, 104). In addition to her passion for women’s education, she was also committed to
expanding women’s rights as well.
Smith (2019) asserts that during the time, women were denied not just the right to
accessing education, but also the right to vote and own property. She was enraged by women
competing for laws that were clearly not developed to address their well-being. Women were
identified as a companion to their husband, who to her was demeaning since their abilities were
being shadowed by masculinity. As American was trying to gain independence from the
dictatorship of Britain, she used the opportunity to express her emotions, holding that the control
by the British was similar to that of men on women. Besides, she advocated for the abolition of
slavery because she believed that it would hinder the successful implementation of a democratic

ABIGAIL ADAMS A REVOLUTIONARY AMERICAN WOMAN 4
nation. She, therefore, served as a social and political advocate by being the voice of the
marginalized groups in society. Despite, the fact that her revolutionary ideas against the
patriarchal governance did not significantly impact the American Revolution at that time they
became the foundation for social revolutions.
When Abigail wrote to her husband “all men would be tyrants if they could” she meant
that in the absence of proper policies men would take control over women and infringe on their
rights. In a male-dominated society, it was clear that while women were being denied basic rights
such as education, men were only concerned about the tyranny of Britain. She was, therefore,
raising an argument that to protect women from the tyranny of men, their rights needed to be
integrated into actual policies (Bober 2010, 7). Through the policies, men would be limited in
terms of abusing the rights of females, given that they were the dominant gender in terms of
controlling the governing systems both economically and politically. The existence of policies
would, therefore, serve as the representation of equality. In her view, the absence of protective
measures in the form of legislative policies gave men an opportunity to abuse their power and
taking an oppressive move towards limiting women’s freedom (Bustos and Andree 2017, 8).
Abigail believed that it is the obligation of any given government to protect its citizens.
In a society, where men were dominant, the government held the obligation of protecting women
against exploitation by men. While men enjoyed the power given to them naturally as the strong
gender, women were characterized as inferior, and without the natural protection, they needed to
be guarded by the law. Based on Dodge (2015), she held that men are naturally a tyranny gender,
one that is used to power and this made women vulnerable. In other words, she meant that while

ABIGAIL ADAMS A REVOLUTIONARY AMERICAN WOMAN 5
the society generally held that all men were created as equal, this was only a false impression
since women where highly disadvantaged as the inferior gender.
Shuffelton (2010) notes that in forming a democratic government, the rights of women
similar to those of men needed to be outlined to empower them and deter men from oppressing
them. She was challenging the society that mainly prioritized on the well-being of men at the
expense of females’ rights. Men were entitled to both a natural and legal advantage for being a
powerful gender and did not require utilizing violence to illustrate its control. To her, the legal
means was the only channel for freeing women from oppression and promoting social equality,
something that nature had denied them (Crane 2013, 199). Men like her husband would not
relate to the experience due to gender privilege, which obscured the ability to recognize the
challenges that were being faced by women. Abigail was, therefore, trying to create awareness
and familiarity about the need to counter the disadvantages faced by women through legal
authority.
According to Farmer (2015), religious faith played an important role in the founding of
America. Both Abigail and John Adams held the Unitarians religious beliefs. In that, they both
believed in the father alone is the supreme God. In addition, the religious beliefs assert that Jesus
Christ draws his being and his honors and power from the father. Besides, Thomas Jefferson died
as a moderate utilitarian because similar to Abigail and John, and he rejected several
fundamental doctrines as they relate to Christianity, such as the existence of a holy trinity, thus
making them Unitarians. John recognized the abuses that religious belief advances itself to either
small or big, but he additionally believed that religion had the ability to serve as a channel for
positive changes in both individual and society levels (Crane 2013, 199). Similarly, Abigail

ABIGAIL ADAMS A REVOLUTIONARY AMERICAN WOMAN 6
believes in serving for the welfare of all people through her religious beliefs. Based on their
extensive reading, this led to them believing that the beliefs were not only applicable to
Christians but for other religions as well. Adam was familiar with the threats of religions such as
the oppression of minority groups and the urge to initiate holy wars. However, he retained his
beliefs that religion has the ability to do well by uniting and ethically guiding individual that
played a role in the lives of the general public. They all utilized their beliefs to advocate for the
rights of minority groups as a way of achieving social revolution.
In conclusion, she was known for her intelligence and devotion to achieving social
revolution. She advocated for the rights of minorities, particularly women and slaves in general.
She enhanced her knowledge through extensive reading and served as the political advisor to her
husband. She believed that women deserved equal opportunities like men and their competences
would, in return, help in revolutionizing society. Through her rights, she outlined the struggles
that were faced by women during the 18th century as she advocated for policy implementation to
grant them equal rights. For her, women were vulnerable to men’s tyrannical ruling, and this
would be changed by creating policies to protect them. Her commitment to fighting for the rights
of minorities was mainly fueled by her experience and religious beliefs.

ABIGAIL ADAMS A REVOLUTIONARY AMERICAN WOMAN 7
References
Bober, Natalie S. Abigail Adams: Witness to a revolution. Simon and Schuster, 2010.
Bustos, Isabel, and Andree Leighton. "Abigail Adams and the Power of Correspondence:
Exploring Women's Role During the American Revolution." (2017).
Crane, Elaine Forman. "Abigail Adams and Feminism." A Companion to John Adams and John
Quincy Adams 62 (2013): 199.
Dodge, L. Mara. "Abigail Adams." Historical Journal of Massachusetts 43, no. 2 (2015): 138-
144.
Farmer, Wesley Edward. "John Adams and Unitarian Theology." (2015).
Shuffelton, Frank. "A revolutionary woman." The Wilson Quarterly 34, no. 1 (2010): 104.
Smith, Austen K. "“All Men Would be Tyrants if They Could”: Three New England Women’s
Perspectives on Political and Domestic Tyranny during the Revolutionary Era." (2019).