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John and Abigail Adams left a remarkable portrait of their lives together in their personal correspondence: both were prolific letter writers (although John conceded that Abigail was the more gifted), and over the years they exchanged more than twelve hundred letters. Joseph J. Ellis distills them to give us an account both intimate and panoramic; part biography, part political history, and part love story. Ellis describes their first meeting as inauspicious--John was twenty-four, Abigail just fifteen, and each was entirely unimpressed. But they soon began a passionate correspondence that resulted in their marriage five years later. Over the next decades, the couple were separated nearly as much as they were together. When John became president, Abigail's health led to reservations about moving to the swamp on the Potomac, but he persuaded her that he needed his closest advisor by his side. Here, John and Abigail's relationship unfolds in the context of America's birth as a nation.--From publisher description.… (more)
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Pros: The book was enjoyable and appeared to be thoroughly researched. Ellis included quotations from the letters and journals. He really tried to capture what the Adams' were feeling and their thoughts about the developing nation.
Cons: I thought he portrayed Abigail a bit weaker thought she was, especially regarding the couple's time apart. I visited the Adams National Historic Site last year, and my impression was that she was a lot stronger.
Overall good book - recommended
Then I remember that one half of the couple is John Adams, who is generally regarded as a vainglorious little man who fails to measure up to other Founding Fathers, especially George Washington. While I find such conventional wisdom to be wrong, even those who are sympathetic to John Adams must admit that he is often scolding and overbearing in tone and easily wounded by, and hyper-reactive to, the perceived slights of others. In short, he is not the sort of person you want to 'get up with and go to bed with each day,' in the description of biographical writing often used by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Happily, Joseph Ellis, professor of history at Mount Holyoke College, has spent many such years getting up and going to bed with Adams, alongside other towering figures of the years surrounding the American Revolution and early republic. Perhaps best known as the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Founding Brothers," the brilliant biographical snapshot of the age, Ellis has previously written a full biography of John Adams. Moreover, alongside his thorough understanding of the context of those years of upheaval, Ellis has a great talent for illuminating the characters of the larger than life figures of the era in his books.
In "First Family," Ellis offers a well-considered portrait of the marriage of John and Abigail Adams. Drawing from their extensive correspondence, both between themselves when they were separated due to John's governmental responsibilities and from each of them to others, Ellis fleshes out the mutual dependence which characterized their marriage. Despite frequent physical separation, they relied on each other for counsel and support. John not only trusted Abigail to manage the farm in his absence during the war, he valued her political instincts and advice; Abigail came to expect not only instructions on household affairs, but substantial attention and concern about the children. Also, Ellis consistently presents their obvious love for and devotion to each other.
While their partnership conforms to many contemporary understandings of marriage, for its time it was rather unique. The demands of wartime separation thrust Abigail -- and many other women -- into new responsibilities usually reserved for men. But Abigail demanded, and John seems to have expected, that she be an almost equal partner in their marriage even beyond the wartime years, which makes their marriage a significant foreshadowing of the women's movement that would begin in subsequent generations of American history. It also was a marriage with significant political consequences for American history -- beyond John's active role in politics until 1800, their eldest son John Quincy Adams would serve in government his entire life, also rising to the presidency; in the next generation, Charles Francis Adams would serve in the sensitive position as ambassador to England during the American Civil War (and one of his sons, Henry Adams, would write important histories of the early years of the United States).
For students of the period, "First Family" covers familiar ground; still, it is marked by Ellis' consistent good judgment in interpreting the sometimes conflicting evidence and filling in the gaps between pieces of evidence. As with his other books, it is beautifully written (perhaps especially so when Ellis seamlessly incorporates material quoted from personal letters by John and Abigail) and shows a depth of research.
John Adams was one of the most skillful instigators of the political decisions that led the colonies to strike for independence from Britain. Clearly no founder deserves more credit for maneuvering the disparate and conflicting ideas and factions into the unity that severed the colonial ties with England. As a man, Adams was highly ambitious and decidedly vain; he was constantly motivated by his craving to be remembered and venerated by future generations. He was impulsive and often agitated, traits that Abigail worked hard to help him keep under control. Adams picked up the reputation in the years of and following his presidency of being a closet monarchist. This was undeserved, but Adams did hold a large measure of skepticism about wisdom of the masses that were apt to be swayed by demagoguery and passions of the moment. Adams was a staunch believer in the powers of the central government and he aligned with the federalist faction, although he and Hamilton became bitter enemies. His views were quite contrary to those of Jefferson who tended to support the primacy of the states over a central authority. He and Jefferson, once on the friendliest terms, became estranged during Washington’s administration. Jefferson became Adams’s vice-president due to the flaw in the constitutional method of presidential elections that resulted in the runner-up taking the vice-presidency (soon fixed by the twelfth amendment). As Adams’s subordinate Jefferson is shown to be devious and disloyal to an extreme degree. His manipulations played a part in Adams’s failure to be elected to a second term. In the late years of both men’s lives they reconciled and exchanged a remarkable correspondence. (In one of history’s most poignant coincidences, these two giants died on July 4, 1826 within hours of each other.)
Adams often made decisions from perspectives that ran counter to popular views; he believed that his contrary views supported their correctness. As president he held firm to the unpopular decision to remain neutral in France’s conflict with Britain when opposing factions either favored war with France or unfettered support for revolutionary France. He is long forgotten as the father of the US Navy, built at his insistence to thwart any ambitions of the Europeans with their powerful naval forces. He is often remembered for his most egregious decision to advocate for and sign the Alien and Sedition Act, a law aimed at silencing critics of his administration. What is too little recognized today is his belief in the separation of powers among the executive, legislature and judiciary, a concept he introduced with his authorship of the Massachusetts Commonwealth’s constitution. His “midnight” appointment of John Marshall as chief justice, much resented by successor Jefferson, turned out to have profound impact securing the role of the court in our democracy.
Abigail Adams was a remarkable woman for her times, perhaps for any time. Without formal education and in a society that expected women to eschew political opinions, she was deeply knowledgeable of the political issues that her husband and the country faced. Her advice to him was cogent and sophisticated and he relied heavily on her guidance in reaching his judgments. She was attuned to his weaknesses – his vanity and impulsiveness – and could mitigate the consequences of these traits through her advice to him. John and Abigail were a perfect balance for each other and both had not only deep affection but also complete mutual respect. Ellis points out that we owe to John’s frequent absences from home at Congress or abroad the presence of the volumes of correspondence they shared. Although certainly a hindsight perspective, Abigail can be said to be a forerunner of feminism and notions of gender equality – her complaints about the subordinate status of women in politics and the law are seen in her letters.
The book tells us much about the Adams’s family. John Quincy was the favored son and his parents’ high expectations and demands for his success as an adult were realized. The other Adams’s offspring did not fare so well. Charles became and alcoholic and died an early death. Thomas floundered in his legal profession and took to drink. Nabby had a bad marriage and succumbed to breast cancer while still young.
Ellis would claim that John and Abigail remain the foremost political couple that our nation has seen. One must agree. Franklin and Eleanor were powerful players on the nation’s stage, but her influence seemed to run parallel to his, not conjoined. Bill and Hillary? While effective political partners, one suspects that ambition undergirds the relationship, not affection as was the case of the Adams.
One aside about letters. The qualities of the correspondence shared between the Adams – introspective, thoughtful, expository, lengthy, etc. – are not features of today’s electronic media. One can’t imagine the richness of the Adams’s letters surviving the world of tweeting, instagram and Facebook.