Happy 250, USA!
"Remember the Ladies"
Abigail Adams by Gilbert Stuart, c. 1800-1815.
Abigail Smith Adams was both Second Lady (1789-1797) and First Lady of the United States (1797-1801.) She wrote the following words to her husband, John Adams, on March 31, 1776, nearly 150 years before the House of Representatives voted to pass the 19th Amendment, for which women had fought valiantly for nearly eight decades. Her words urged him and the other members of the Continental Congress to consider the rights of women while laying the framework for the new, independent nation.
Your Humble Author has always found Abigail Adams’s words inspiring:
“I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. 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 foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”
Abigail Adams was an advocate for greater political rights for women, especially in regards to divorce and property ownership. Sadly, her husband John Adams failed to heed her sage advice.
Women in the USA are still waiting.
What? Dear Readers expected an eagle? I AM INFAMOUS KITTEH MAMA!!
Sources:
Library of Congress. Retrieved 7/4/2026.