My interest in Adams' life, stems from a U.S. History course that I am taking. One of the recurring themes of the lectures is that history books tell us as much about the era in which they are published, as they do about the history that they purport to represent. History as they say, is written by the winners. What gets left out is often more telling than what is actually said.
It is at this point that the reader will have to indulge me in a confessional tangent. Yes, Marie Kondo, it is true - there is no sugar coating it. I am guilty of the terrible sin of hoarding. However hoarding has its compensations.
This morning I was able to unearth a 1974 coffee table book that we have carted from London to New York to Ontario to Victoria, without ever actually having read it. Here is a picture:
Born as humble Alfred Cooke in industrial Lancashire, England, "Alistair" Cooke used a name change and that golden chariot of upward mobility, a grammar school education, to ride to the highest reaches of a peculiar Anglo American elite. He became BBC Radio's pre-eminent American correspondent. He developed the accent and mannerisms of a Boston Brahmin. As a quick reminder re Boston Brahmins, here is John Bossidy's famous verse:
And this good old Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod,
Where the Lowells talk only to Cabots
And the Cabots talk only to God
There is nothing in Cooke's book about the genocide of the continent's aboriginal inhabitants. In a book that is otherwise a miracle of brevity, he did however find space to provide us with this image and commentary:
"These drawings by William Clark [as in Lewis and Clark] show how the Chinook Indians of the Columbia River Basin strapped infants between boards until they were about a year old, in order to produce a fashionably flat skull."
Likewise, you would be wasting your time if you went to his book for any information on Abigail Adams, the country's second (after Martha Washington) First Lady.
Times change and ideas sometimes progress. One of the course set texts is a brilliant book, with a slightly precious ornate literary style all of its own, penned by Harvard professor Jill Lepore:
Cooke's omission is rectified by Lepore, who notes that in March 1776, Abigail Adams wrote a letter to her husband advocating for the emancipation of women:
'"I desire you would Remember the Ladies,and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors" she began, alluding to the long train of abuses of men over women. "Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands", she told him...Her husband would have none of it. "As to your extraordinary Code of Laws, I cannot but laugh," he replied. "...Depend upon it, We know better than to repeal our Masculine systems" '
Abigail Adams was a contemporary of Jane Austen. While there is no evidence that either was aware of the other, they both succeeded in breaking the chains of a society that conspired to render them invisible. The difference between them was that Austen changed the world with her pen, while Adams was very much a woman of the world. Another difference is that, in an historic act of literary vandalism, Austen's sister Cassandra burned all the letters she had received from Jane. In fortunate contrast, more than 2,000 of Adams' letters have been archived.
The Massachusetts Historical Society is a digital goldmine (https://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/archive/ ) for those looking to get a sense of the person behind the history.
Another great resource is "Founders Online" (https://founders.archives.gov/).
The picture that emerges from Adams' correspondence is of a confident, down to earth woman. One of my favorite letters is the one she wrote to her sister Mary Cranch in November 1788 ( https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-08-02-0155): It conveys her joy at the progress of her 18 month old grandson William Steuben Smith:
"Master William is the very Image of his Mamma at the same age, except that he has a great share of vivacity & sprightlyness, the merest little Trunchion that you ever saw, very pleasent & good humourd"
No brief list of characteristics can do justice to this pioneer of women's liberation, but here are five personality features that cemented my admiration for her:
- America's "Founding" feminist
- The wit of an Austen heroine.
- The business acumen of a "BSD"
- The religiosity of a Puritan
- The dynastic toughness of Queen Victoria
America's "Founding" Feminist
Adams' claim to be America's founding feminist is not predicated on the fact that she was married to John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers. She was a force in her own right. She chafed at female subjugation in any sphere. She particularly railed against the educational limitations placed on women of her time. In April 1787, she wrote to her niece Lucy Cranch:
"Yet surely as rational Beings, our reason might with propriety receive the highest possible cultivation. knowledge would teach our Sex candour, and those who aim at the attainment of it... would derive a double advantage from it, for in proportion as the mind is informed, the countanance would be improved ... for wisdom says Soloman maketh the face to shine...even the Luxurious Eastern Sage thought not of rouge or the milk of roses—but that the virtuous wife should open her mouth with wisdom & the law of kindness dwell upon her Tongue,"
However, she has too much humanity, to get carried away with what could become a dreary diatribe. In the same letter, Adams, bring herself up short and veers onto lighter topics:
"But whither has my subject led me? I must return to the Female sphere & talk to you of fashions— the Sandals which I send, I fear will prove too large, but the shoe maker says they are according to the measure. the Novelty of taste has brought the immitation of the Scotch plad into vogue, Waistcoats Bonets & ribbons are all plad, sashes.... adieu my dear girl. may the best of Heavens blessings rest upon you"
The wit of an Austen heroine
Adams is like a real life incarnation of Elizabeth Bennett. In her letters you can see her gently deflating the daunting mien of her suitor John Adams. During their courtship she chides him for his excessive severity:
notwithstanding you tell me that you sometimes view the dark side of your Diana, and there no doubt you discover many Spots...Sometimes you know, I think you too severe, and that you do not make quite so many allowances as Humane Nature requires
However, in the same letter, she sugars the pill by playing with his sexual ardour:
My Dearest Friend
Here am I all alone, in my Chamber, a mere Nun I assure you…. "out of the abundance of the Heart, the mouth speaketh," and why Not the Mind thinketh...Why I can tell you, we might, if we had been together, have been led into temptation...My Mamma has just been up, and asks to whom I am writing. I answerd not very readily.
Sadly, life does not always imitate art:
notwithstanding you tell me that you sometimes view the dark side of your Diana, and there no doubt you discover many Spots...Sometimes you know, I think you too severe, and that you do not make quite so many allowances as Humane Nature requires
However, in the same letter, she sugars the pill by playing with his sexual ardour:
My Dearest Friend
Here am I all alone, in my Chamber, a mere Nun I assure you…. "out of the abundance of the Heart, the mouth speaketh," and why Not the Mind thinketh...Why I can tell you, we might, if we had been together, have been led into temptation...My Mamma has just been up, and asks to whom I am writing. I answerd not very readily.
Sadly, life does not always imitate art:
The business acumen of a "BSD"
For those readers who were not bond traders during the 1980s, Slate magazine provides a handy translation of "BSD":
In New York, happiest among the financial alpha males is the big swinging dick. The term entered the lingua franca via Michael Lewis’ Liar’s Poker. (Relevant quote: “If he could make millions of dollars come out of those phones, he became that most revered of all species: a Big Swinging Dick.”)
Abigail Adams was the consummate Value Investor. She lived up to Warren Buffett's dictum that investors should:
"be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful"
She had the courage and insight to buy government bonds at a time when they they were trading at distressed levels. The depressed prices reflected the fact the public knew that the Federal government was hard pressed to pay its debts. Having bought the bonds for 30 cents on the dollar, she was able to eventually sell them at face value (i.e. 100 cents).
Her success in finance owed little to her husband. In this sphere he displayed an unappealing mixture of timidity, hypocrisy and racism. In modern day parlance he would have been accused of a "lack of intestinal fortitude". He was hypocritical in that he was quite happy to benefit from his wife's financial success while simultaneously criticizing the venality of bond speculators. Even less attractively, the subject brought out his incipient anti-Semitism. In a 1786 letter to Thomas Jefferson, John Adams claimed that financial speculators were equivalent to
"Jews and Judaizing Christians...Scheeming to buy up all our Continental Notes at two or three shillings in a Pound, in order to oblige to pay them at twenty shillings a Pound"
In New York, happiest among the financial alpha males is the big swinging dick. The term entered the lingua franca via Michael Lewis’ Liar’s Poker. (Relevant quote: “If he could make millions of dollars come out of those phones, he became that most revered of all species: a Big Swinging Dick.”)
Abigail Adams was the consummate Value Investor. She lived up to Warren Buffett's dictum that investors should:
"be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful"
She had the courage and insight to buy government bonds at a time when they they were trading at distressed levels. The depressed prices reflected the fact the public knew that the Federal government was hard pressed to pay its debts. Having bought the bonds for 30 cents on the dollar, she was able to eventually sell them at face value (i.e. 100 cents).
Her success in finance owed little to her husband. In this sphere he displayed an unappealing mixture of timidity, hypocrisy and racism. In modern day parlance he would have been accused of a "lack of intestinal fortitude". He was hypocritical in that he was quite happy to benefit from his wife's financial success while simultaneously criticizing the venality of bond speculators. Even less attractively, the subject brought out his incipient anti-Semitism. In a 1786 letter to Thomas Jefferson, John Adams claimed that financial speculators were equivalent to
"Jews and Judaizing Christians...Scheeming to buy up all our Continental Notes at two or three shillings in a Pound, in order to oblige to pay them at twenty shillings a Pound"
The religiosity of a Puritan
Given that her father was a Congregationalist minister, it is no surprise that religion loomed large in her life. Today, we rely on a strangely intense sixteen year old woman from Sweden to put the fear of god into us, and cement the conviction that we will all have to pay for our planetary sins.
Adams was much more self reliant in that respect. Her biographer, Woody Holton notes that in the religious ferment of the 1760s and 1770 there was
a new wave of jeremiads. Not all of these were the work of ordained ministers, and in the fall of 1774, Abigail produced one of her own. "I greatly fear that the arm of treachery and violence is lifted over us as a Scourge and heavy punishment from heaven for our numerous offences," she told John in an October 16 letter.
but Holton goes on to explain that she was not a "Puritan" in the way we currently understand the word:
Actually, the religious denomination now known as Congregationalist acquired the label "Puritan" for reasons that had nothing to do with moral purity in the modern sense. The movement arose in seventeenth century England with the purpose of purifying the government sanctioned Church of England of its Catholic vestiges; hence the name Puritan.
The fact that their first child was born only eight and a half months after their wedding day, provides tempting, if tenuous, evidence that she was not "puritanical" in the modern day sense.
More importantly, her religion was a practical faith. At times of disease and distress, she was a tender, dedicated nurse to the sick. In one of her letters she describes ministering to her little servant girl Patty, who was dying of dysentery and had
"now become such a putrid mass as [made attendants] scarcely to be able to do their Duty toward her"
Abigail's husband has been called the original "Tiger Dad". For John Adams, it was not enough that he, himself, should become President. He demanded it of his son John Quincy too. In 1794, he wrote to his son:
"You come into Life with Advantages which will disgrace you, if your success is médiocre.— And if you do not rise to the head not only of your Profession but of your Country it will be owing to your own Laziness Slovenliness and Obstinacy."
There is no reason to think that Abigail did not share her husband's demanding dynastic standards.
Like Queen Victoria, both tragedy and triumph were visited upon her descendants. "Peacefield", the mansion that her financial speculations had helped pay for, became a refuge for the many family members who came unstuck one way or another.
Nevertheless, the dynasty that she and John founded, went on to become one of the quintessential Boston Brahmin families. Her son, John Quincy, became the sixth President of the United States. Other descendants also rose to prominence e.g. Charles Francis Adams IV served as chairman of Raytheon, the behemoth defence contractor.
The term Boston Brahmin, conveys an image that is stuffy, elitist and prickly - but maybe now that we live in an era of anti-democratic populist politicians around the globe, those traits do not seem so bad. In a recent article (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/13/john-quincy-adams-jefferson-jackson-trump-the-problem-of-democracy-extract) the Guardian wrote:
The two Adamses may have been snobs in their own way but they hated all forms of deception and intimidation, subtle or direct, regardless of its origin. They hated the fact that American politics thrived on the embellishment of larger-than-life personalities as “men of the people”. To the endless frustration of the father and the son, each spent the greater part of his political career facing the charge of holding a dangerous degree of elitist sympathy. Whether guilty or not, they took a perverse pride in refusing to court public opinion through dishonest means – which made them poor politicians.
Abigail can take much of the credit for her descendants' tradition of public service and integrity. She held her children to high moral standards. Just as importantly, her business acumen provided the family with the financial wherewithal that enabled them to take the high moral ground.
Even more remarkably, at a time when her sex was expected to be seen but not heard, she carved out an identity for herself as a powerful independent woman.
Adams was much more self reliant in that respect. Her biographer, Woody Holton notes that in the religious ferment of the 1760s and 1770 there was
a new wave of jeremiads. Not all of these were the work of ordained ministers, and in the fall of 1774, Abigail produced one of her own. "I greatly fear that the arm of treachery and violence is lifted over us as a Scourge and heavy punishment from heaven for our numerous offences," she told John in an October 16 letter.
but Holton goes on to explain that she was not a "Puritan" in the way we currently understand the word:
Actually, the religious denomination now known as Congregationalist acquired the label "Puritan" for reasons that had nothing to do with moral purity in the modern sense. The movement arose in seventeenth century England with the purpose of purifying the government sanctioned Church of England of its Catholic vestiges; hence the name Puritan.
The fact that their first child was born only eight and a half months after their wedding day, provides tempting, if tenuous, evidence that she was not "puritanical" in the modern day sense.
More importantly, her religion was a practical faith. At times of disease and distress, she was a tender, dedicated nurse to the sick. In one of her letters she describes ministering to her little servant girl Patty, who was dying of dysentery and had
"now become such a putrid mass as [made attendants] scarcely to be able to do their Duty toward her"
The dynastic toughness of Queen Victoria
"You come into Life with Advantages which will disgrace you, if your success is médiocre.— And if you do not rise to the head not only of your Profession but of your Country it will be owing to your own Laziness Slovenliness and Obstinacy."
There is no reason to think that Abigail did not share her husband's demanding dynastic standards.
Like Queen Victoria, both tragedy and triumph were visited upon her descendants. "Peacefield", the mansion that her financial speculations had helped pay for, became a refuge for the many family members who came unstuck one way or another.
Nevertheless, the dynasty that she and John founded, went on to become one of the quintessential Boston Brahmin families. Her son, John Quincy, became the sixth President of the United States. Other descendants also rose to prominence e.g. Charles Francis Adams IV served as chairman of Raytheon, the behemoth defence contractor.
Conclusion
The two Adamses may have been snobs in their own way but they hated all forms of deception and intimidation, subtle or direct, regardless of its origin. They hated the fact that American politics thrived on the embellishment of larger-than-life personalities as “men of the people”. To the endless frustration of the father and the son, each spent the greater part of his political career facing the charge of holding a dangerous degree of elitist sympathy. Whether guilty or not, they took a perverse pride in refusing to court public opinion through dishonest means – which made them poor politicians.
Abigail can take much of the credit for her descendants' tradition of public service and integrity. She held her children to high moral standards. Just as importantly, her business acumen provided the family with the financial wherewithal that enabled them to take the high moral ground.
Even more remarkably, at a time when her sex was expected to be seen but not heard, she carved out an identity for herself as a powerful independent woman.
