A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams

In March 1799, John returns to Quincy, accompanied by their youngest son, Thomas, who is home after a five-year diplomacy in Europe and is now 26. Abigail is overjoyed. They discuss John’s controversial decision to seek peace with France, a move that enraged his cabinet but which Abigail fully supports. Later that night, John reveals that he and Thomas saw Charles in New York and found him inebriated in his office. Thomas dismissed it, but Charles’s wife confirmed to John that his gambling and alcohol addictions have worsened. John, furious and ashamed, bitterly remarks that his children cause him more pain than his enemies. Abigail rebukes him, reminding him of the sacrifices their children have made for his career and that family love is more valuable than public approval. John apologizes, and the family enjoys a restorative season at Peacefield.

Arriving in Philadelphia in December 1799, Abigail and John are immediately informed by John Marshall that George Washington has died. As Abigail grapples with the public pressure to establish a national mourning tradition, Charles’s wife, Sally, arrives unexpectedly. She announces she has left Charles due to his alcohol and gambling addictions, as well as his adultery, having discovered him at a brothel. Enraged by the disgrace, John renounces Charles, declaring he is no longer his son. Abigail promises Sally financial support. After attending Washington’s solemn state funeral, John vents his frustration about Alexander Hamilton, whom he believes is dangerously ambitious. Fearing that without Washington to restrain him, Hamilton poses a more immediate danger to the republic than France, so John resolves to disband the army.

In May 1800, Abigail and Nabby travel to a military encampment in New Jersey, where Abigail represents the president as the provisional army is disbanded. After visiting with Nabby’s husband, Colonel Smith, whose military career has been stalled by politics, Abigail addresses the troops to great applause. She then has a tense breakfast with General Hamilton, who complains of being slandered by John and raises the prospect of an “affair of honor”—a veiled threat that Abigail wonders might mean a challenge to duel the president. Hamilton urges Abigail to convince John not to seek re-election, arguing another Federalist could better defeat Thomas Jefferson. When Abigail refuses, Hamilton declares he will use his influence to promote a different candidate, a move they both know will split the party and likely hand the presidency to Jefferson. The confrontation solidifies Abigail’s resolve to secure a government appointment for the loyal and unfairly maligned Colonel Smith.

Later in May 1800, Abigail makes a surprise visit to her son Charles in New York City. She is horrified to see how his alcohol addiction has ravaged his health and appearance. Charles is bitter toward both his wife for leaving him and his father for renouncing him. He shows Abigail a pamphlet in which Alexander Hamilton attacks John’s character and fitness for office. After Charles breaks down in despair, Abigail offers a path to reconciliation: If he can remain sober for the summer, she will persuade his father to see him at Peacefield. Back home, Abigail must contend with John’s anger over her visit with their estranged son. She feels increasingly powerless to solve her family’s crises, a feeling reinforced during a visit with Phoebe, whose unwavering charity to strangers stands in stark contrast to Abigail’s own frustration with the world.

In the autumn of 1800, Abigail is traveling to the new capital on the Potomac when she stops at Colonel Smith’s farm in East Chester. There, at sunrise, Nabby wakes her with news that Charles is desperately ill. She, Nabby, and Sally rush to his side in New York and find him near death from liver failure, dropsy, and other complications of alcohol addiction. The doctor confirms that the damage is irreversible. Nabby arranges to move Charles to her home in East Chester to care for him. Before Abigail must continue her journey, a lucid Charles expresses regret for his failings and begs her to convince his father to visit and grant him forgiveness after the election is over. Abigail promises she will. Shaken, she leaves for the capital, praying not for her husband’s re-election but for her son’s life.

Abigail arrives in December 1800 at the new, unfinished President’s House in Washington City, a raw and chaotic place. She talks about Charles with John, urging forgiveness, but John Marshall interrupts before the conversation concludes. John loses the election; then a letter from Nabby announces that Charles is dead. John collapses in grief, but Abigail retreats into silence, unable to respond to his pleas. To cope, she throws herself into menial tasks, such as hanging laundry in the East Room. Seeking solace, Abigail accepts an invitation to visit Martha Washington at Mount Vernon. There, the two women, both in mourning, find comfort in their unique shared experience. Abigail confides that the greatest pain of leaving public life is losing the “power of doing good,” (364) a realization that helps her begin to navigate her immense grief.

In January 1801, Abigail returns to Washington City, where John is brooding over his narrow election loss. A peace treaty with France finally arrives, a vindication of John’s controversial policy that came too late to save his presidency. Abigail frames it as a noble sacrifice: He chose to save the country from war rather than secure his own re-election. With her encouragement, John appoints Colonel Smith to a federal post in New York, securing Nabby’s future, and he also names John Marshall as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the presidential election is deadlocked between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. To ensure a peaceful transition of power, John asks Abigail to host Jefferson as the guest of honor at the New Year’s levee. She performs this final, difficult public duty with grace. As a last consolation, John tells her he will be occupied with bringing Johnny home from Europe, finally offering the prospect of reuniting what remains of their family.