A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams

In April 1765, a pregnant 20-year-old Abigail Adams lives on a farm in Braintree, Massachusetts. Annoyed by her mother’s overbearing concern for her health, she insists on walking to market day with her sister, Elizabeth. In town, they discuss the public outrage over the new Stamp Act. They are met by their kinsman Dr. Cotton Tufts, who was sent by Abigail’s mother to check on her. In the general store, Abigail witnesses the poverty of a neighbor, the Widow Copeland, whose colonial currency is refused. The incident highlights the community’s economic instability. Later, Abigail gives birth to a healthy daughter. Her husband, John, is overjoyed and they name the baby Abigail Amelia, though she is soon nicknamed Nabby. A few weeks later, Abigail and John have a playful argument about a legal case he is handling: John is arguing on behalf of officers who came to escort a boy into his drunken father’s custody and were bested by women protecting the child. The case reinforces Abigail’s strong belief in championing the rights of women.

By January 1770, five years have passed, and the Adams family has moved to Boston so John can be closer to the courts. They now have three children: Nabby, two-and-a-half-year-old John Quincy, and thirteen-month-old Susanna, called Suky, who is chronically ill. The city is tense with the presence of British soldiers. Abigail listens from the entry as John talks with his cousin, Samuel Adams, a leader of the Sons of Liberty. While John supports boycotting British goods, he disapproves of the mob’s violent methods. Later, as British soldiers drill loudly in the street, Suky’s condition worsens. Abigail sends for Dr. Joseph Warren, who diagnoses the baby with pleurisy. That night, despite Abigail’s and John’s desperate prayers, Suky dies in her mother’s arms.

In March 1770, while still mourning Suky, a pregnant Abigail is alone with her children when a mob marches past her house. She hears musket fire in the distance and arms herself with a cast-iron frying pan to protect her family. John returns home with news that British soldiers have fired on a crowd on King Street, killing at least five people in what becomes known as the Boston Massacre. A few days later, John accepts the deeply unpopular case of defending the British soldiers, “arguing that everyone deserves a fair trial” (28). A key witness, a bookshop clerk named Henry Knox, tells Abigail he did not believe Captain Preston gave the order to fire and that Henry had tussled with rowdy boys trying to stop them from provoking the British. In May, Abigail gives birth to a son, Charles. By autumn despite enduring a health scare from stress, John largely succeeds, securing acquittals for most defendants including Captain Preston, with only two soldiers convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to have their thumbs branded. His unpopularity and public ostracizing, however, forces the family to plan a move back to the Braintree farm.

By the summer of 1773, John’s reputation has been restored, and he has been elected to the state legislature. Having moved back to Boston, they now have a fourth child, Thomas. Then, John and Abigail travel with Nabby to Plymouth, where John is attending a session of the County Court, staying as guests of James Warren and his wife, Mercy Otis Warren. Abigail admires Mercy, a celebrated playwright and intellectual, and is eager to meet her. The two women quickly bond over literature, politics, and the challenges of educating their children. Mercy warns Abigail that the coming struggle for liberty will demand great sacrifice from women. She also offers to tutor Nabby in the future. The visit deepens Abigail’s awareness of women’s intellectual and political roles. Abigail tells John of her desire to travel, and he dreamily promises they might one day go abroad and that he is not opposed to having Nabby education with Mercy Warren.

In December 1773, tensions in Boston escalate over a tax on tea from the British East India Company. Abigail observes prominent patriots, including Samuel Adams and John Hancock, meeting at the Green Dragon Tavern to organize resistance. When the royal governor refuses to allow the tea ships to leave the harbor, Abigail joins thousands of citizens in a protest at the Old South Meeting House. That night, members of the Sons of Liberty, disguised as Mohawk men, board the ships and dump 300 crates of tea into the harbor. Both John and Abigail celebrate this act of defiance. In retaliation, Parliament passes the Intolerable Acts, closing Boston Harbor, forbidding town meetings, and authorizing the quartering of troops in private homes. Dr. Warren informs John that the colonies are forming a congress in Philadelphia to coordinate a response and that John has been chosen as a delegate from Massachusetts. Though fearful of the consequences, Abigail pledges her full support, agreeing to “run all risks” (48) with him.

In October 1774, with John away at the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Abigail manages the Braintree farm alone. She faces a drought, difficult tenants, and financial strain. To help with chores, she takes in her widowed neighbor’s daughter, Patty Copeland. During a dinner with her uncle, Colonel Josiah Quincy, Abigail defends her husband against the insults of Quincy’s Loyalist son, Samuel. Later, Abigail witnesses local patriot militia seizing gunpowder from a Tory-controlled powder house after learning the royal governor has dissolved the provincial assembly. John returns after three months, reporting that twelve colonies have agreed to an embargo on British goods and have sent a petition to the king. He warns Abigail that if their grievances are not addressed, a Second Continental Congress will be convened.

By March 1775, King George III has not responded to the colonists’ petition. On April 19, John bursts in with news of fighting at Lexington and Concord, learned from a rider. He reports that British troops fired on militiamen and that Abigail’s brother Bill was one of the militiamen and is currently missing. The British had been in Concord attempting to seize Samuel Adams and others, but were warned just in time by Paul Revere. Declaring “the die is cast” (56), John takes his musket and rides to assess the situation, telling Abigail to flee with the children if danger approaches. The war has begun and moved into Boston, and Abigail’s home is soon inundated with refugees fleeing the city and wounded patriot soldiers. In mid-June, the thunder of cannons awakens the family. From a nearby hill, Abigail and her son Johnny watch the Battle of Bunker Hill and see the smoke from the battle. Soon after, she learns that their friend and physician, Dr. Joseph Warren, was killed in the battle and brutally desecrated by British soldiers. Devastated, Abigail begins melting down her family’s pewter spoons to make musket balls for the war effort.

In July 1775, John nominates George Washington to be commander in chief of the new Continental Army. On his way to Cambridge, General Washington visits Abigail at the farm, praising her patriotism and recognizing the important role women play in the war effort. Later, to combat wartime scarcity and earn money for the family, Abigail establishes a small business, asking John to send her sewing pins from Philadelphia, which she then sells to her neighbors at a profit. In addition to managing the farm and her business, she acts as John’s primary political and military informant in Massachusetts. After four months apart, John briefly returns, and they have a passionate reunion in Watertown. He is impressed with her intelligence gathering and affectionately calls her “Mrs. Delegate” (64) for her essential contributions to the cause. Then, he leaves again for Philadelphia.

In September 1775, a deadly dysentery epidemic, known as the “bloody flux,” strikes Braintree. Abigail’s entire household, including her three sons, her servants, and the boarder Patty, falls ill. Only Abigail and Nabby remain healthy enough to care for the sick. However, Abigail eventually contracts the disease. Nabby relays that her uncle Elihu Adams and her baby cousin have died. Abigail’s mother arrives from Weymouth to nurse the family, disregarding the risk to her own life. Under her mother’s care, Abigail and her sons slowly recover, but the servant girl Patty dies. Soon after, Abigail’s mother falls ill. Abigail rushes to her side, but it is too late. Her mother dies, leaving Abigail shattered by grief and overwhelmed with guilt, believing her mother sacrificed her life to save hers.