World History since 1500. Primary Source Paper Notes

1 “... Remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.” : Correspondence between Abigail and John Adams in the Spring of 1776 Allison Brown World History After 1500 Dr. Blackler March 8, 2020 In the Spring of 1776, John Adams and the founding framers of the United States convened in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention to discuss the future of their nascent democracy. However, absent from this discourse to form a new state— a state that had just escaped the grasp of tyranny, and was reaching to “ … secure the blessings of liberty” in the preamble of the constitution— a majority of the population including women, indigenous populations, and African slaves were excluded from the conversation. Writing from a distance, Abigail Adams asked that her spouse would break tradition with the “western world” and grant women a role in the developing democracy, a notion to which John Adams was wholly opposed. In the early spring, Abigail makes requests to her new government a “ .. desire [that] you [John] would remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your a2ncestors” also included a warning, “... if peculiar 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.3” Her ask would seem to be logical to John and the new government, with women playing a key role in the revolution and seeking an existence different from that under the oppressive British monarchy. Abigail continues in her letter to explain a system that is established in the social order, “ … do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands ... your sex naturally tyrannical is a truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no disp4u, tael”though now a clear reference to the patriarchy, Abigail was referring to the common legal practicefem ofme covert. Under this guiding doctrine of the time, a husband and wife were considered one person, essentially eliminating the married women’s autonomy by restricting her ability to own property, sign legal documents, enter into contracts, obtain an education against her husband’s wishes, or keep wages for h5eTrsheislfi.dea was popularized in 1769 by 1 William Blackstone in hisCommentaries on the Laws of England, pronouncing “ … the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marr6iage.” It was with this ask, and understanding of how the British establishment disenfranchised women, that John responded to retain the system of their oppressive monarchy, “... we know better than to repeal 7 our masculine systems” while cognizant of the discontent of half the population, “... another tribe [women] grow more numerous and powerful than all the rest were grown discont8eJnotehdn.” acknowledges Abigail's disquietude with the status quo but does nothing to offer concrete support. With her response, Abigail voices her disappointment, “I can not say that I think you very generous to the Ladies …” 9 and identifies his hypocrisy, “... for whilst you are proclaiming peace and goodwill to men, 10 emancipating all nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute power over w ivAebis.g”ail then once again writes a warning of sorts to the repression of women, “But you must remember that arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken … we [women] have it in our power not only to free ourselves but to subdue our masters, and without violence throw both your natural and legal authority at our feet1.1”Abigail in these statements acknowledges the existence of a societal system benefiting men— the patriarchy —and warns yet again of the precariousness of repression. In these correspondences, Abigail Adams wasn’t only asking for women’s suffrage but also implored her husband to acknowledge other social and economic rights of women at the time who played a role in founding the new government. She asked him to “... remember the ladies ... ” when marriage laws and the male establishment removed their “... very being ... ”. Radical ideas against tyranny to form an independent nation that values freedom were permissible but still fed into the patriarchy and disempowered women. Liberating women was an idea too radical for the “American Experiment” and 2 financial constraints established by William Blackstone continued by John Adams and the other founding framers would remain in place in the United States in some financial instances until the12 1960s. 3