Abigail Adams was a voice for women’s rights, abolition and independence at a time when most women’s voices were silent. As wife to the second U.S. president and mother to the sixth, she had a profound effect on the burgeoning nation.

“Here I can serve my partner, my family and myself, and enjoy the satisfaction of your serving your country.”

Born Abigail Quincy Smith in Weymouth, Mass., on Nov. 11, 1744, Abigail was one of four children. Her father was a Congregational minister. Despite the fact that women were not given formal education, Abigail spent a great deal of time in her father’s library and studying at the knee of her esteemed maternal grandfather, Col. John Quincy. She was in poor health for much of her childhood, so most of her time was spent reading and writing letters. She taught herself French and studied theology, history, government, law, philosophy and the classics. However, she felt deprived of a formal education, and later in her life, she became a vocal advocate for the equal education of girls.

Abigail began a friendship with future president John Adams when she was still a teen. At 26, he was in Boston pursuing a law career and became a frequent visitor to the Smith home, where he found young Abigail to be his intellectual equal, a woman who loved to discuss politics and literature. Their longdistance courtship inspired the first of what became a collection of more than 1,100 letters over the next five decades. They were married in 1764; Abigail called her new husband her “dearest and best friend.”

“Alas! How many snow banks divide thee and me, and my warmest wishes to see thee will not melt one of them.”

The newlyweds lived in Braintree on John’s small farm, and over the next few years rented homes in Boston as well. Abigail gave birth to five children, including John Quincy Adams in 1767, who would become the sixth president of the United States. In 1774, her husband, whose reputation in the legal community had grown, left for Philadelphia to serve as a delegate to the fi rst Continental Congress. Over the next 10 years, John’s political career kept him away from home, and most of Abigail’s communication with her husband was through letters.

She took on the duties of running their farm in Braintree and raising their five children. As a manager of the farming business—a unique position for a woman at that time—Abigail excelled. “I hope in time to have the reputation of being as good a farmeress as my partner has of being a good statesman,” she wrote in 1776. Years after she had left to join John in Europe, she continued to manage the farm and dairy operations long distance. Her business acumen resulted in annual profits for most of the couple’s life together.

Abigail also tutored her children at home when they were younger, and as they started school, she often noted in her letters her dissatisfaction with the educational discrimination against girls. To make up for the inequality, she spent a great deal of time ensuring that her daughters received the education she was denied.

“Remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.”

As John played an active role in the formation of the United States, Abigail engaged in lively debate with her husband over the issues she saw as imperative to the success of the new nation. One of these was the equality of women in American society. She wrote to John: “Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to ferment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation.”

Although neither John nor the other men writing the Declaration of Independence were swayed by her arguments, Abigail created some of the earliest-known writings calling for women’s equality, and she continued to speak out against restrictions on women. She did not allow her domestic position to limit her; rather, she took the opportunity to continue her education, to develop business skills running the household and farm, and to become an example of female abilities and potential in a society that limited women to the domestic sphere.

“A people may let a king fall, yet still remain a people: But if a king lets his people slip from him, he is no longer a king. And this is most certainly our case. Why not proclaim to the world, in decisive terms, your own independence?”

As the colonies fought for their independence, Abigail, along with a few other prominent women, was appointed the Massachusetts Colony Court in 1775 to investigate loyalty of colonial women were charged with fighting independence.

She also continued her farm and as an unofficial advisor whose political career expanded internationally. In 1784, she joined and a year later, he became ambassador to Great Britain. Abigail was required to fill the social role of the ambassador’s wife, a difficult task in the face of lingering hostilities.

The couple returned to Massachusetts in 1788, and the following year, John became the first vice president of the new nation. Abigail and Mrs. Washington were good friends, and her experience in social circles abroad made her an invaluable diplomatic asset.

“I have sometimes been ready to think that the passion for liberty cannot be equally strong in the breasts of those who have been accustomed to deprive their fellow creatures of theirs.”

In 1797, John was elected president of the United States. He relied more than ever on Abigail’s counsel, writing, “I never wanted your advice and assistance more in my life.”

Abigail continued to make her arguments for women’s equality and was also vocal in her opposition to slavery and racial discrimination. When a free African-American boy asked her to help him learn to read, she began to tutor him. When she sent him to evening school to continue his education, a neighbor complained of his presence. Abigail told the neighbor it was an issue of “equality of rights. The boy is a freeman as much as any of the young men, and merely because his face is black, is he to be denied instruction? How is he to be qualified to procure a livelihood?” Her support allowed the boy to continue in school.

As first lady, Abigail hosted official dinners and receptions, as well as one of the first Fourth of July celebrations in Washington, D.C. Her opinions were mentioned alongside her husband’s in the press, and she wrote numerous letters expressing her political leanings. Her high visibility and participation in diplomatic and political events led one newspaper to dub her “Mrs. President.”

After John lost his bid for a second term, the couple returned to Quincy, Mass., in 1801. She spent her last years tutoring her grandchildren and watching son John Quincy build a promising political career. However, she passed away in 1818, six years before he was elected president. Her legacy in letters reveals a unique woman, one who was strong, intelligent and fiercely American.