A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams

In the fall of 1789, news of the violent French Revolution arrives. In Congress, John Adams loses a heated debate over what formal title the president should have, which earns him the public nickname “His Rotundity.” Washington appoints Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury, a role in which he wields significant influence. John is outraged to learn that Hamilton wrote to electors instructing them to throw their votes elsewhere to help Washington get elected, though John himself concludes Hamilton acted out of loyalty to Washington. Meanwhile, Nabby tells Abigail that Colonel Smith’s pride is wounded by his appointment as a federal marshal, a low-paying post he feels is beneath him.

Abigail becomes a fixture at Martha Washington’s social gatherings, where she serves as the First Lady’s closest attendant. The family is joined by Thomas Jefferson, the new Secretary of State, with whom Abigail has a warm reunion. However, a fierce political rivalry quickly emerges between Hamilton and Jefferson over national debt and the French Revolution. The chapter closes as President Washington again falls dangerously ill, leaving John and Abigail to fear that his death could shatter the fragile new nation.

After Washington recovers in 1790, a political compromise is reached: The federal government assumes state war debts, a plan proposed by Alexander Hamilton that benefits Abigail’s own investments, and in return, the nation’s capital will move temporarily to Philadelphia and then to a new city created between Maryland and Virginia. In New York, Nabby gives birth to a son, Thomas. The Adamses attend a treaty signing with Creek leaders, where a chieftain gives Abigail the name “Mammea,” which Thomas Jefferson privately tells her means either “woman leader” or “pluck-able round grape” (271).

In December, the government relocates to Philadelphia, a city deeply divided between supporters of Hamilton’s Federalists and Jefferson’s allies. Finding her official duties costly and unfulfilling, Abigail is joined by her sons Charles and Tommy, who have come to study law. The family’s friendship with Jefferson is strained when they return for a stay in Braintree to learn that Jefferson publicly endorses a pamphlet by Thomas Paine that attacks the concept of balanced government as expounded by John Adams. Furthermore, Jefferson notes that he is glad something has been said against “political heresies which have sprung up among us,” (275) which John takes as a personal insult to his own published writings. In response, John Quincy anonymously publishes a series of rebuttals under the name “Publicola.” Jefferson writes to John, denying he intended for his endorsement to be public and assuming John himself is Publicola. Despite remaining friends, there is a widening political and personal chasm between them.

By March 1793, Abigail has returned to the family farm in Quincy, Massachusetts, to save money. Her children are scattered: Nabby and her husband are in London pursuing business after their infant son died. Charles is in New York while Thomas is in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, in America, popular sentiment is strongly in favor of the French Revolution, but President Washington declares U.S. neutrality in the war between France and Great Britain, sparking public outrage.

Nabby and Colonel Smith return from London extremely wealthy and ready to build a grand estate in western New York. Meanwhile, John reports that Jefferson has said he will resign and retire to Monticello. The following year, President Washington gives John Quincy a surprise appointment as minister to the Netherlands. Though hesitant, he accepts at Abigail’s urging and takes his younger brother, Tommy, as his secretary.

In the spring of 1795, Abigail and John visit New York and observe a growing romance between their son Charles and Sally Smith, Colonel Smith’s sister. The nation is in turmoil over the Jay Treaty, a new agreement with Britain that many Americans find humiliating. Colonel Smith, using inside information from Alexander Hamilton, is certain the treaty will pass and boasts of his own privateer ships. Charles declares his intention to marry Sally immediately, rejecting Abigail’s advice to wait until the world is more stable. Then, Abigail and Charles attend a volatile public meeting about the treaty. Hamilton demands to speak first, but a vote favors another speaker; when Hamilton continues to disrupt, Colonel Smith as chairman declares him out of order, enraging Hamilton. As Hamilton continues to taunt the hostile crowd, they begin throwing bricks at him, forcing him to retreat.

By the summer of 1796, Colonel Smith has suffered a complete financial collapse, losing his fortune and properties. His ruin is part of a wider economic crisis. The political landscape is thrown into chaos when George Washington announces he will not run for a third term, making John Adams the leading presidential candidate for the Federalist party. As the election approaches, the press viciously attacks John as a monarchist and his opponent, Thomas Jefferson, as an atheist. However, John maintains a surprising calm, focusing on manual labor at their Quincy farm, which he renames “Peacefield.” He eventually confesses that he is not ambitious for the presidency but feels it is his duty to serve if elected, stating that it is better for a man to “wear than rust.”

In May 1797, Abigail travels to Philadelphia to join her husband, who has been inaugurated as the second President of the United States. John reveals he won by only three votes and that Thomas Jefferson, is now his Vice President. Abigail learns that Nabby’s husband, Colonel Smith, has vanished to escape his creditors. Worse, Charles lost all his money—and John Quincy’s savings—in a failed attempt to keep Smith out of debtor’s prison, leaving Charles deeply despondent.

Abigail assumes her new role as First Lady, succeeding Martha Washington and hosting social events with a more accessible style than her predecessor. She and John must navigate a tense political climate as France, angered by American neutrality, grows increasingly hostile. The crisis deepens when a letter Jefferson wrote to a neighbor is indiscreetly shared and published in a French newspaper, in which he calls the Adams administration aristocratic; Jefferson does not deny writing it. John relies heavily on Abigail for counsel as he steers the nation toward a potential war.

In October 1797, Abigail and John visit Nabby in East Chester, New York. Her husband has been gone for a year, and she has survived with help from her brother Charles, who is rumored to be drinking heavily and gambling. A yellow fever epidemic forces the Adamses to remain with Nabby, who receives false lead on funds from her absent husband. When the epidemic passes, John and Abigail return to a deeply fractured Philadelphia. Congress is so divided that a brawl breaks out on the House floor, and John’s cabinet, filled with Hamilton loyalists, offers little support. John grows pale and thin under the strain of the presidency. Feeling the Union itself is at risk, Abigail becomes his closest advisor, helping him with speeches and policy while privately keeping secret her plans to remodel their Quincy home.

Tensions with France escalate into the “XYZ Affair,” in which French agents demand a bribe from American envoys to begin negotiations. When President Adams makes the insulting demand public, anti-French outrage sweeps the country. With war looming, Congress authorizes a navy and army. Amidst the war fervor, anonymous letters threaten a French plot to burn Philadelphia, prompting the passage of the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts. These laws grant the president power to deport foreigners and criminalize criticism of the government. Though allies like John Marshall warn the acts are unconstitutional and set a terrible precedent, and John himself worries that future presidents might abuse them, Abigail urges John to sign them for national security. Subsequently, the prominent anti-Federalist newspaper publisher Benjamin Franklin Bache is arrested. At the Independence Day celebration, Abigail is honored by young soldiers who name their patriotic cockades “Abigails.”