Historian and author Joseph Ellis' First Family draws from decades of correspondence between John Adams and his wife, Abigail, to reveal the achievements of America's second president, and the sacrifice and influence of his first lady.
Viewing each other as intellectual equals, the two exchanged more than 1,000 letters over the course of their relationship and, according to Ellis, intended for their for correspondence to stand as a record of their lives posterity — though John Adams insisted the letters were meant for his own family.
In fact, the Adams took decisive steps to ensure their letters would be preserved. In 1776, John wrote to Abigail to tell her he'd bought a leather binder to collect her letters in and advised her to do the same.…show more content… The encounter occurred in the parlor of the pastor's house in Weymouth, Massachusetts, which happened to be the home of Abigail and her two sisters. Their father was the Reverend William Smith, whom John described in his diary as "a crafty designing man," a veteran public speaker attuned to reading the eyes of his audience. "I caught him, several times," wrote John, "looking earnestly at my face." Like most successful pastors, he was accustomed to being the center of attention, which apparently annoyed John, who described Reverend Smith prancing across the room while gesturing ostentatiously, "clapping his naked sides and breasts with his hands before the
